Families of victims from two Boeing 737 Max crashes claimed on Wednesday that the company committed the "deadliest corporate crime in US history." In a 32-page letter to the Department of Justice, they asked to impose the maximum $24 billion fine as the US government considers criminal prosecution of Boeing, CNN reports. The Justice Department said last month that Boeing’s recent string of safety lapses and mishaps constituted a violation of its 2021 agreement that allowed the company to avoid charges for 737 Max crashes in Indonesia in October 2018 and Ethiopia in March 2019 that killed 346 people. The families' attorney advocated for aggressive criminal prosecution of Boeing, including a speedy jury trial and the prosecution of former CEO Dennis Muilenburg and other responsible corporate officials. The letter also asks the Justice Department for an independent corporate monitor to oversee Boeing’s safety measures and to direct it in its efforts to improve its quality. The DOJ said it will let the court know by July 7 how it will proceed.
In May, the Department of Justice notified Boeing that it had breached the terms of its 2021 agreement following a January incident in which a door plug blew off an Alaska Airlines flight shortly after takeoff in January. In a previous statement, Boeing said it had upheld its end of the bargain. The 2021 deferred prosecution agreement that Boeing reached with the Justice Department was harshly criticized by the family members and some members of Congress at that time. Boeing had agreed to pay $2.5 billion, but most of that money was paid to the airlines that owned the grounded planes. It also agreed to set up a $500 million fund to compensate family members, which it had already agreed to do in the face of lawsuits, and it would have paid a $244 million fine to the federal government. The $24 billion, as significant as it would be, would still be less than the $31.9 billion in core operating losses it has reported since the second crash of the plane in 2019.
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