Controversial aircraft giant Boeing argued to the Justice Department on Wednesday that the company has upheld its end a 2021 deferred prosecution agreementand pushed back at federal prosecutors who wrote last month that the aircraft manufacturer breached the deal and was at risk of prosecution, two people familiar with the discussions confirmed to CBS News.
Boeing’s response was filed after prosecutors told a federal judge in Texas in May that the company violated the agreement that would have led the Justice Department to dismiss criminal charges related to the two 737 Max crashes in 2018 and 2019 — killing a total of 346 people — because prosecutors said Boeing had not taken sufficient compliance measures.
Boeing responded Wednesday, saying it disagreed, the two people said. Bloomberg first reported the news.
A federal judge in Texas is overseeing the back-and-forth between the parties. Boeing had until Thursday to refute the Justice Department’s claims.
When reached by CBS News, the Justice Department declined to comment on the report.
In January 2021, Boeing and the federal government reached a deal in which the company agreed to pay a $2.5 billion settlement and adhere to certain provisions in exchange for the Department of Justice’s fraud conspiracy charges being dropped after three years. That three-year period would expire in July.
Last month, however, federal prosecutors wrote that Boeing “breached its obligations” under the deferred prosecution agreement, in part by allegedly failing “to design, implement and enforce a compliance and ethics program to address violations of the Prevent and detect US fraud laws around the world. its activities.”
In January, the cabin door of an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-MAX 9 opened minutes after takeoff from Portland, Oregon. Then in March someone familiar with the case confirmed to CBS News that prosecutors were investigating whether anything that led to or contributed to the outburst could affect the deferred prosecution agreement.
In a statement to CBS News Wednesday, a Boeing spokesperson said that “we will decline to comment on specific communications with the Department of Justice, but we will continue to work transparently with the Department as we have throughout the term of the agreement. “
