Families of victims of fatal Boeing crashes furious at idea of ‘plea deal’
Two crashes five months apart, 364 innocent lives lost, and now Boeing's culpability will be on record. Give us our day in trial. Forbid them with all of them. the US Justice Department plans to charge the embattled aerospace company with criminal fraud and will offer a deal for a guilty plea, a $365 million fine and three years of company oversight by an independent monitor. I don't believe any type of fraud charge would be sufficient for a loss of human life. Relatives of the victims of the 2018 Lion Air and the 2019 Ethiopian Air crashes were briefed by the department today. They say it appears to be a sweetheart deal that fails to hold individuals accountable, and they will ask the Texas judge to reject it. These charges will come as a blow to Boeing's reputation and to its company finances, all as it grapples with an ongoing crisis following the Alaska Airlines door plug blowout. Boeing is blaming the incident on missing paperwork. Earlier this month, its outgoing CEO was hauled in front of Congress. Frankly, Sir, I think it's a travesty that you're still in your job and brought reporters through the 737 Max factory in Washington state. I feel very confident that it will not happen again. A promise of a new era of transparency, but it won't take the heat off the company's failures in the United States. Alison Petrowski, 9 News.