Boeing might be criminally prosecuted for 737 MAX crashes after all, says DoJ
- Reference: 1715796006
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/05/15/boeing_might_be_criminally_prosecuted/
- Source link:
The DoJ accused Boeing of failing to uphold its end of the deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) in a [1]letter [PDF] to US District Court for the Northern District of Texas Reed O'Connor, who oversaw the [2]original case that led to the DPA and a $2.5 billion fine.
The original crash case saw Boeing facing charges it had conspired to commit fraud by withholding safety information from federal aviation officials. The two 737 Max crashes in Indonesia in 2018 and Ethiopia in 2019 killed 346 people.
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According to the DoJ's statement with the original settlement, Boeing [4]admitted in court that it had "deceived" the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) about the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), resulting in key documents lacking necessary details about the system, and leaving pilots unprepared.
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Boeing agreed to report any future instances of fraud as well as enhancing its compliance rules as part of the settlement agreement.
Boeing breached its DPA obligations, however, "by failing to design, implement, and enforce a compliance and ethics program to prevent and detect violations of the U.S. fraud laws throughout its operations," the DoJ claims. The Department didn't name any specific incidents in which it believed Boeing violated the DPA.
[7]
The aircraft maker has had a tricky time of it over the past few months.
There's the Alaska Airlines door plug [8]blowout , over which Boeing was [9]criticized for bad record keeping. [10]Numerous [11]whistleblowers have come forward alleging safety failures at the company, and the FAA's own [12]investigation into the firm found numerous failures at Boeing to cultivate an adequate safety culture.
That last item may be the key when it comes to the DoJ's claims Boeing is failing to meet DPA obligations: the FAA said it "found a lack of awareness of safety-related metrics at all levels of the organization" and skepticism about the very idea of implementing a new safety management system.
[13]Aircraft rivet hole issues cause delays to Boeing 737 Max deliveries
[14]United Airlines' patience with Boeing is maxed out after repeated safety issues
[15]Boeing top brass stand down amid safety turbulence
[16]Justice Dept reportedly starts criminal probe into Boeing door bolt incident
"The Government is determining how it will proceed in this matter," the DoJ said in its letter, and gave itself a deadline of July 7 to announce its plans to prosecute - or not.
Boeing has to issue a response by June 13, the DoJ said, and it wants that response to include how its DPA breach was allowed to occur and what it's done to remedy the situation. The explanation will be taken into account when determining whether to pursue prosecution, the DoJ noted.
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Boeing, naturally, doesn't believe it has done anything wrong. The company confirmed in a statement that it had received the letter from the DoJ, but believes it has honored the terms of the DPA and "look[s] forward to the opportunity to respond to the Department on this issue."
"We will engage with the Department with the utmost transparency, as we have throughout the entire term of the agreement, including in response to their questions following the Alaska Airlines 1282 accident," a Boeing spokesperson told The Register .
The DPA, which only lasted for three years, was due to expire this coming July. ®
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[1] https://regmedia.co.uk/2024/05/15/doj-boeing-letter.pdf
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2021/01/08/boeing_737_charges/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZkUwgPRDlZcGfHvZCouUzwAAABg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/boeing-charged-737-max-fraud-conspiracy-and-agrees-pay-over-25-billion
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZkUwgPRDlZcGfHvZCouUzwAAABg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZkUwgPRDlZcGfHvZCouUzwAAABg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZkUwgPRDlZcGfHvZCouUzwAAABg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/08/boeing_737_max_9_airplanes/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/07/ntsb_boeing_door_plug/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/17/boeing_whistleblower_fuselage_gaps/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/24/boeing_whistleblower_q1_2024/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/28/faa_gives_boeing_90_days/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/05/aircraft_rivet_hole_issues_cause/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/23/united_boeing_737/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/25/boeing_leadership_exits/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/11/us_department_of_justice_boeing/
[17] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZkUwgPRDlZcGfHvZCouUzwAAABg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[18] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: The problem
The problem with American "justice" is that the corporation will be charged criminally, as is their belief of "corporations are people".
But actual living, breathing people in the C-suite will almost assuredly get off, scot-free. As usual.
But at 'least' they'll get to walk away with their golden parachutes.
Re: The problem
It's the same everywhere (not just in America). We had revolutions to get rid of monarchs that were obscenely rich, all-powerful, and immune to lawful punishment (American Revolution, French Revolution, Haitian Revolution, Soviet Revolution, Chinese Revolution, ...), and little by little new small groups of folks managed to make themselves obscenely rich, all-powerful, and immune to lawful punishment again. Revolutions need steady maintenance to keep rolling ...
Re: The problem
Well, not everywhere...
[1]The former Port of Auckland Limited (POAL) chief executive has gone on trial in a first- of-its-kind prosecution in New Zealand over the 2020 workplace death of 31-year-old father-of-seven Pala’amo Kalati.
"In enacting the Health and Safety at Work Act in 2015, Parliament’s “express intention” was to promote accountability of officers in senior leadership positions – “especially those at a distance from day-to-day operational and safety decision-making because of their seniority”.
The prosecutors drew on Australian research which found that corporate officers responsible for worker safety should be exposed to a “meaningful personal risk of regulatory action”.
Personal liability, backed by credible enforcement, was “the single most important motivator of CEOs”."
[1] https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/former-ports-of-auckland-ceo-tony-gibson-on-trial-for-workplace-death-of-palaamo-kalati-in-unprecedented-prosecution/RROTHWSOPNGCBB2ALIKCXBIPVQ/
Re: The problem
Unfortunately, revolutions are messy, and either extremists or cynical and power-hungry manipulators tend to end up on top.
Re: The problem
> Unfortunately, revolutions are messy, and either extremists or cynical and power-hungry manipulators tend to end up on top.
In any revolution there is the danger you might actually win. My solution being to reintroduce the Ancient Roman tradition of all high positions being elected for a fixed period. And after that they must retire from public life. Else we'd end-up with Bob at the State Department moving to R******* moving to V******* moving to B******** and then moving back to the State Department.
Immoral
It was completely immoral to let Boeing buy its way out of criminal prosecution (how many of us are able to do that?) in the first place. The company made grave errors to increase its profits to please shareholders and executives. Almost 350 people lost their lives because of this. The FAA and U.S. politics are rotten to the core that they allowed this.
It's entirely subjective whether the company held to its agreement terms. I'm absolutely certain did implement some part of the "compliance and ethics program to prevent and detect violations of the U.S. fraud laws throughout its operations."