Families of Boeing 737 MAX victims ask US to seek $24 billion in fines

WASHINGTON:

Relatives of the victims of the two deadly Boeing ( BA.N ) 737 MAX open new tab crashes asked the Justice Department on Wednesday to seek up to $24.78 billion in fines against the plane maker and to pursue criminal charges.

“Because Boeing’s crime is the deadliest corporate crime in US history, a maximum fine of more than $24 billion is legally justified and clearly appropriate,” Paul Cassel, an attorney representing 15 families, wrote in a letter to the Department Justice released on Wednesday.

The families said the Justice Department could potentially suspend the $14 billion to $22 billion fine “provided Boeing devotes those suspended funds to an independent corporate monitor and related compliance and safety improvements.”

The Justice Department said in May that it found Boeing violated a 2021 deferred prosecution agreement that shields the company from a criminal conspiracy charge to defraud stemming from fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people.

Boeing last week told the government it had not violated the agreement. Federal prosecutors have until July 7 to inform a federal judge in Texas of their plans, which could be to pursue a criminal case or negotiate a settlement with Boeing. The Justice Department could also extend the deferred prosecution agreement for a year.

Justice Department officials found Boeing violated a deferred prosecution agreement after a panel rejected a new Alaska Airlines ( ALK.N ) opens new Boeing 737 MAX 9 jet tab on Jan. 5, just two days before the deal expires of 2021. The incident exposed ongoing safety and quality issues at Boeing.

In the letter, the families also said Boeing’s board of directors should be ordered to meet with them and the department should “bring criminal charges against the responsible Boeing corporate executives at the time of the two crashes.”

Boeing and the Justice Department did not immediately comment.

The letter noted that Senator Richard Blumenthal,

He, who chairs the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and held a hearing with Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun on Tuesday, said: “There is almost overwhelming evidence in my view as a former prosecutor that there should be a prosecution.”

The two fatal crashes of Boeing 737 MAX planes occurred in 2018 and 2019 in Indonesia and Ethiopia and led to the grounding of the world’s best-selling aircraft for 20 months. A safety system called MCAS was linked to both fatal crashes.