Target: Merrick Garland, United States Attorney General
Goal: Consider enhanced criminal charges against Boeing for its reported violation of key safety regulations.
In 2018 and 2019, two plane crashes involving Boeing’s 737 Max jetliner claimed the lives of almost 350 people. Both regulators and pilots were apparently unaware of a key problem with critical software used on the planes. Boeing’s failure to disclose these safety threats led to a 2021 deal with the Department of Justice (DOJ) that enabled the airline manufacturer to avoid criminal liability. Yet recent findings revealed that the company violated terms of this deal, opening the manufacturer up to criminal prosecution for a second time.
But once again, the DOJ has seemingly let Boeing avert culpability. In a new plea agreement described by some legal critics as a “shameful sweetheart deal,” company officials will plead guilty to one count of fraud. In exchange, they will pay a 200-plus million-dollar fine, be handed three years of probation, and work with a “monitor” to ensure they meet safety regulations (although the last deal didn’t seem to yield much in the way of compliance). Perhaps more importantly for the company, they will avoid a trial that could have exposed other malfeasance. Boeing has faced intense scrutiny in recent months after several high-profile seeming equipment malfunctions (even most recently with a spacecraft), yet it continues to secure lucrative contracts to build planes around the world.
Families who lost loved ones are outraged and have called on a judge who will need to approve the deal to veto it. This judge will have almost no power in handing out addition punishment even if a refusal of the deal does occur, however. Sign the petition below to call on the DOJ to reassess its sweetheart deal that is breaking families’ hearts and potentially endangering future passengers.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Attorney General Garland,
“I don’t think it will do a thing to change the safety culture at Boeing. The company will return to the status quo as soon as public attention turns elsewhere. And when there is inevitably another Boeing crash and DOJ seeks to assign blame, they will have nowhere else to look but in the mirror.”
An attorney representing 34 of the hundreds of families who lost loved ones because of Boeing’s admitted safety violations had these strong words for the DOJ’s recent plea deal with the manufacturer. The DOJ already allowed Boeing to skirt responsibility in 2021, and how did Boeing react? They admittedly continued to flout safety regulations. The public has seen some of the consequences of this continued failure with increased reports of Boeing craft malfunctions.
Who will take responsibility when the next “failure” once again turns tragic? Will this department accept the shame for being fooled not once, not twice, but three times? This deal has not been officially approved, and it is not too late to correct course. Honor victims and protect future airline consumers by revoking this “shameful sweetheart deal” at once.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: LLBG Spotter
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Boeing has been in business for decades! They have been respected for that amount of time. Yet they would throw that away to increase their bottom line, do stock buy backs to please their stock holders by sacrificing 350 people. All killed due to Boeing. Being an industry leader, as Boeing has been, makes their actions criminal. We have laws to protect but this is blatant sacrifice! You can not set an example that this treatment of lives is okay, as it’s not!
You must have them pay although money can not replace the loved ones lost. Yet, money can help lighten the burden of the loss of a provider. Boeing is so wrong in this and to excuse them would, itself, be a criminal action.