FILE – The logo for Boeing appears on a screen above a trading post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, July 13, 2021. Boeing is due to tell federal regulators Thursday, May 30, 2024, how it plans to fix the safety and quality problems that have plagued its aircraft-manufacturing work in recent years. Families of some of the people who died in two Boeing 737 Max crashes are asking federal officials to fine Boeing $24.
A lawyer for the families said in a letter Wednesday to the Justice Department that a large fine is justified “because Boeing’s crime is the deadliest corporate crime in U.S. history.”at the time of the crashes in 2018 and 2019, including then-CEO Dennis Muilenburg. In all, 346 people were killed in the crashes.
The first crash occurred when a Boeing 737 Max 8 operated by Indonesia’s Lion Air plunged into the Java Sea in October 2018 — and the second in March 2019, when an Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max 8 crashed nearly straight down into a field six minutes after takeoff from Addis Ababa. The push by the families comes as the Justice Department considers whether to revive a dormant criminal charge of fraud against Boeing. Last month, prosecutors determined that the companyThe Justice Department has until July 7 to tell a federal judge in Texas whether it will revive the case. During aBoeing did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company previously has said it met its obligations under the 2021 settlement.during an Alaska Airlines flight in January.