Justice Department says Boeing breached 2021 737 MAX criminal prosecution agreement

The Justice Department said that Boeing breached its obligations from a 2021 agreement that shielded the embattled corporation from criminal prosecution from two fatal 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people.

In a filing in federal court in Texas on Tuesday, the DOJ said that Boeing failed to make changes to prevent it from violating federal anti-fraud laws.

The changes were a condition of the deferred prosecution agreement that the airline manufacturer agreed to in 2021.

The DOJ said that Boeing broke the agreement 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."

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The ruling means that Boeing could face prosecution "for any federal criminal violation of which the United States has knowledge."

It was not immediately clear if the DOJ will prosecute Boeing for their past misdeeds.

"The Government is determining how it will proceed in this matter," the Justice Department said.

Paul Cassell, an attorney for the victims’ families and a professor of law at the University of Utah College of Law, said that this was a "positive first step."

"This is a positive first step, and for the families, a long time coming. But we need to see further action from DOJ to hold Boeing accountable, and plan to use our meeting on May 31 to explain in more detail what we believe would be a satisfactory remedy to Boeing’s ongoing criminal conduct," Cassell said in a press release.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Boeing confirmed that they received notice from the DOJ, and said that they "believe that we have honored the terms."

"We can confirm that we received a communication today from the Justice Department, stating that the Department has made a determination that we have not met our obligations under our 2021 deferred prosecution agreement, and requesting the company's response," Boeing said. 

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"We believe that we have honored the terms of that agreement, and look forward to the opportunity to respond to the Department on this issue," Boeing added. "As we do so, 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."

Prior to the agreement, the DOJ conducted a two-year probe into whether Boeing had concealed information about its 737 Max aircraft.

In 2021, Boeing agreed to pay $2.5 billion to resolve a criminal investigation into the company's conduct surrounding the fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia.

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In Oct. 2018, Indonesia's Lion Air flight 610, which was a Boeing 737 MAX 8 jet, plunged into the Java Sea, killing all 189 people on board.

Similarly, 157 passengers died from the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 crash in March 2019.

In their agreement, Boeing promised to compensate victims' relatives and overhaul its compliance practices.