Boeing Faces Guilty Plea Over 737 Max Crashes, Agrees to $243.6 Million Fine

Boeing will plead guilty to a criminal fraud charge linked to the deadly crashes of 737 Max planes. The plea deal requires Boeing to pay an additional fine of $243.6 million. The agreement, which needs a federal judge's approval, will put an independent monitor on Boeing for three years.

Boeing is set to plead guilty to criminal fraud over two fatal 737 Max crashes that led to the deaths of 346 individuals. The Justice Department revealed on Sunday that this plea comes after Boeing breached a previous settlement agreement that protected the company from prosecution for over three years.

This week, federal prosecutors gave Boeing a choice: either plead guilty and pay a new $243.6 million fine or face a trial for conspiracy to defraud the United States. The court must still approve the plea deal, which also mandates the appointment of an independent monitor to oversee Boeing's safety and quality protocols for three years.

The plea deal pertains only to Boeing's actions before the crashes and does not grant immunity for other incidents, such as a recent malfunction on an Alaska Airlines flight. Prosecutors allege Boeing misled regulators about a flight-control system implicated in the crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia during 2018-2019. The case will be heard in U.S. District Court in Texas.

(With inputs from agencies.)