Boeing Co. has reached a tentative agreement with the U.S. Justice Department that would allow the planemaker to avoid criminal charges for two fatal crashes of its 737 Max jets more than six years ago.

The settlement was disclosed in a federal court filing Friday, just weeks before a trial was set to start June 23 in Fort Worth, Texas. It calls for the company to pay more than $1.1 billion and strengthen quality and safety measures, Justice Department lawyers said.

It’s a stunning turnaround in the long-running legal case. Just last year, Boeing agreed to plead guilty to a criminal conspiracy. But that deal was rejected in December by U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor, who has been overseeing the case since 2021.

The new agreement — reached over strong objections from some victims’ families — still needs to be approved by O’Connor. The government said a final agreement will be filed by the end of next week, but provided an overview of the terms in its filing. Among them: a $243.6 million fine for Boeing and a order for the planemaker’s board of directors to meet with family members of people killed in the crashes.

The tentative agreement would allow require Boeing to contribute $444.5 million to a fund for families of victims killed in the crashes of Lion Air Flight 610 in October 2018 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 in March 2019, according to the filing. Boeing also would spend $455 million to strengthen its compliance, safety and quality programs, the filing shows.

“Ultimately, in applying the facts, the law, and Department policy, we are confident that this resolution is the most just outcome with practical benefits,” prosecutors said in a statement, noting that they’d “met extensively” with relatives of the victims.

Family opposition

After the government submitted notice of the agreement, lawyers representing family members of crash victims told O’Connor they plan to object to the deal and urge him to deny any attempt by the government to dismiss the criminal case against Boeing.

“The families intend to argue that the dismissal unfairly makes concessions to Boeing that other criminal defendants would never receive and fails to hold Boeing accountable for the deaths of 346 persons,” they said in a court filing.

Many of the families opposed any deal that allowed Boeing to avoid criminal prosecution. They’ve fought for years to extract harsher penalties from the company. Both crashes were linked to a flawed flight control system on 737 Max jets. The only Boeing official to face trial was a mid-level manager overseeing the pilot manuals and training materials. He was acquitted.

Catherine Berthet, whose 28-year-old daughter Camille Geoffrey was killed in the 2019 crash, said she was “absolutely stunned” by the proposed agreement.

“I will never get rid of my pain and my tears,” Berthet said in a statement. “By deciding not to prosecute Boeing and not to take it to court, the government is sending a message to the public that big companies are above the law and justice, even when they kill.”

Not all of the victims’ families are opposed to the deal, according to prosecutors.

In Friday’s filing, the Justice Department said family members and lawyers representing more than 100 crash victims either expressed support for the resolution, efforts to end the case before trial or did not oppose the agreement. One family member told the government he wants “the DOJ to find a way to resolve this matter as soon as possible.”

Boeing declined to comment on the deal. The company’s shares fell less than 1% on Friday.

Legal turns

The case has taken several turns. In 2021, Boeing reached an agreement with the Justice Department to defer prosecution on charges that it deceived regulators about the system. Under that deal, Boeing paid a $243.6 million fine. In early 2024, two days before the charge would’ve been dismissed, a door-sized plug blew out of an airborne 737 Max. While no one was killed, the accident led to investigations and findings of lax controls in Boeing’s factories.

The government said Boeing violated the 2021 agreement and recommended a criminal charge. Boeing agreed to plead guilty, pay a fine and install an independent corporate monitor. The agreement also would have required the company spend at least $455 million to bolster its compliance and safety programs.

But that proposal was rejected in December by O’Connor. He said the agreement diminished his role in ensuring Boeing lived up to its promises and that the process for selecting an independent monitor would rely on diversity, equity and inclusion policies, which the judge claimed would improperly impose race on the hiring decision.

In March, O’Connor ordered Boeing to stand trial in June. While he didn’t explain his decision, the order came a day after the Wall Street Journal reported Boeing was seeking leniency from the Justice Department and trying to avoid a criminal charge.

The original plea deal was crafted by the Biden administration’s Justice Department, which claimed it was standard practice to include language related to DEI policies. Since taking office Jan. 20, President Donald Trump has been eradicating diversity programs within the federal government.

The case is U.S. v. Boeing, 21-cr-005, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas (Fort Worth).

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