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Agreement would prevent Boeing ( BA ) from being branded

convicted

felon

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Boeing ( BA ) faces scrutiny from FAA after MAX 9 emergency

incident

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON, May 17 (Reuters) - Families of some of the

346 people killed in two fatal Boeing 737 MAX crashes plan to

object to a tentative nonprosecution agreement between the

planemaker and the U.S. Justice Department, a lawyer said on

Saturday.

The Justice Department outlined the tentative deal in a more

than two-hour meeting with families on Friday and said in a

court filing on Saturday that they would have until Thursday to

file written objections.

Paul Cassell, a lawyer for the families, said they would

object "to any deal along the lines described by DOJ yesterday,

because it fails to hold Boeing ( BA ) accountable for the 'deadliest

corporate crime in U.S. history,'" citing the prior comments of

U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor.

The Justice Department said in its filing "it has not

decided whether to enter into the agreement or to proceed to

trial, and would not make the decision until after finishing

conferring with the families."

The agreement would forestall a June 23 trial the planemaker

faces on a fraud charge it misled U.S. regulators about a

crucial flight control system on the 737 MAX, its best-selling

jet.

The agreement would allow Boeing ( BA ) to avoid being

branded a convicted felon and would be a blow to families who

lost relatives in the crashes and had pressed prosecutors to

take the U.S. planemaker to trial.

"The new deal is a step backward from last summer, when

Boeing ( BA ) was going to plead guilty," Cassell added. "Under the new

arrangement, they don't plead guilty."

Boeing ( BA ) declined to comment.

Boeing ( BA ) agreed in July to plead guilty to a criminal fraud

conspiracy charge after the two fatal 737 MAX crashes in

Indonesia and Ethiopia, spanning 2018 and 2019, and to pay a

fine of up to $487.2 million.

Boeing ( BA ) and DOJ officials have not yet exchanged papers to

negotiate final details of any nonprosecution agreement, the

department said Saturday.

The Justice Department told families on Friday that Boeing ( BA )

would be asked to pay an additional $444.5 million into a crash

victims' fund that would be divided evenly per crash victim,

lawyers for the families said, on top of $500 million Boeing ( BA )

paid in 2021.

Boeing ( BA ) has faced enhanced scrutiny from the Federal Aviation

Administration since January 2024, when a new MAX 9 missing four

key bolts suffered a mid-air emergency losing a door plug. The

FAA has capped production at 38 planes per month.