Justice Department to charge Boeing, seeks guilty plea from planemaker

The meeting comes after the Justice Department determined the planemaker violated the 2021 deferred-prosecution agreement struck between Boeing and the government in the waning days of the Trump Administration. The deal allowed Boeing to avoid criminal prosecution as long as it met certain conditions.

But in May, the department concluded the company had failed to meet a requirement to implement an effective compliance program to prevent and detect violations of U.S. fraud laws. Boeing told the DOJ that it disagreed with the finding.

The breach announcement came after a fuselage panel blew off a Boeing jet operated by Alaska Airlines Inc. mid-flight in January. U.S. safety investigators determined the plane was missing four bolts meant to secure the so-called door plug in place — a revelation that helped to unearth a series of manufacturing and quality lapses at the company and prompted multiple investigations by lawmakers and government agencies, including the Justice Department.

Boeing has been in turmoil since the midair blowout. The company’s shares are down by about a third this year and it has warned that it’s on pace to burn through about $8 billion in cash during the first half of 2024 as it deals with a production slowdown in the aftermath of the near-catastrophe. In response to the January accident, the Federal Aviation Administration capped production of the 737 Max and required Boeing to submit a sweeping plan to address the quality issues at its factories.

At the same time, the planemaker is in the midst of a leadership shakeup as it searches for a new chief executive officer to take over for Dave Calhoun, who plans to step down from the role later this year.

As part of the 2021 deferred-prosecution agreement, Boeing paid a criminal fine and admitted to deceiving the FAA about an obscure flight control system linked to the crashes. The company also pledged to improve its internal safety controls and submit regular reports to the Justice Department. In return, the government would withdraw a criminal charge against the company after three years.

But the door plug blowout, which occurred just days before the deal was set to expire, prompted the department to consider throwing out the agreement.

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(With assistance from Julie Johnsson.)

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