An employee works near a Boeing 737 Max aircraft at Boeing’s 737 Max production facility in Renton, Washington, U.S. December 16, 2019.
Lindsey Wasson | Reuters
The Justice Department filed criminal charges against Boeing as part of a deferred prosecution agreement that accuses the planemaker of concealing information from regulators investigating the 737 Max crashes, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.
Boeing didn’t immediately comment.
“The tragic crashes of Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 exposed fraudulent and deceptive conduct by employees of one of the world’s leading commercial airplane manufacturers,” Acting Assistant Attorney General David P. Burns of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, wrote in a release. “Boeing’s employees chose the path of profit over candor by concealing material information from the FAA concerning the operation of its 737 Max airplane and engaging in an effort to cover up their deception.”
Boeing shares were down about 2% in afterhours trading after the news broke.
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