US-Boeing deal over 737 Max crashes ‘morally repugnant', says lawyer for victims' families
The aerospace company Boeing has agreed to pay $1.1bn (£812m) to avoid prosecution over two plane crashes that killed 346 people, in a deal that a lawyer for 16 families of the victims has described as 'morally repugnant'.
The plane manufacturer has secured a deal – agreed in principle last month – with the US Department of Justice (DoJ), which includes paying $444.5m to the families of the victims who died in the crashes of 737 Max jetliners in 2018 and 2019.
The company has also agreed to invest $445m towards improving its compliance, safety and quality programmes, according to an agreement signed by the DoJ and Boeing last week and detailed in a new US court filing.
On top of this, Boeing has already paid $243m of a $487.2m criminal penalty agreed in 2021.
Sanjiv Singh, the counsel for family members of some of the victims of the plane crash in Indonesia in 2018, told the BBC that the deal allowed Boeing to 'sidestep true criminal accountability'.
The company has previously said that it was 'deeply sorry' for the families' losses and was committed to honouring the memories of the victims by pursuing broad and deep changes within the business.
If the deal is approved by a federal judge, the fraud charge in the criminal case against Boeing will be dismissed.
Two Boeing planes crashed off the coast of Indonesia and in Ethiopia less than five months apart in 2018 and 2019. Many relatives of the victims have spent years pursuing a public trial, more severe penalties for Boeing and the prosecution of former company officials.
In October 2018, 189 people were killed when Lion Air flight 610 fell into the Java Sea off Indonesia. In March 2019, Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 crashed shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa airport, which killed 157 people.
Both incidents were linked to faulty flight control systems. The second crash prompted the grounding of the 737 Max plane for almost two years.
The company avoided prosecution in 2021 after it reached a settlement with the US DoJ, which included the $243.6m fine.
Sign up to Business Today
Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning
after newsletter promotion
However, last year prosecutors argued that Boeing had violated the terms of the 2021 agreement by failing to make promised changes to detect and prevent violations of federal anti-fraud laws. Last July, Boeing agreed to plead guilty to the felony fraud charge instead of enduring what may have been a lengthy public trial.
However, in December, the US district judge Reed O'Connor in Fort Worth rejected the deal. The judge said the diversity, equity and inclusion policies in government and at Boeing could result in race being a factor in picking an independent monitor to oversee Boeing's compliance with the agreement.
Boeing was approached for comment. A company spokesperson told the BBC regarding the new agreement with the DoJ: 'Boeing is committed to complying with its obligations under this resolution, which include a substantial additional fine and commitments to further institutional improvements and investments.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Trump says Iran strikes ‘spectacular military success' and warns ‘bully' Iran to ‘make peace' or face ‘greater' attacks
President Donald Trump on Saturday said the 'mass precision strikes' carried out by American bombers on a trio of Iranian nuclear facilities had been successful and warned that more of the same could be on the table if Tehran does not return to negotiations. Speaking from the Cross Hall in the White House and flanked by Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Marco Rubio, the ex-Florida senator who serves as hisnational security adviser as well as Secretary of State, the president described the airstrikes as 'a spectacular military success' and said the three facilities targeted by U.S. warplanes had been 'completely and totally obliterated.' 'Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace. If they do not, future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier,' he said. Trump thanked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli forces for the 'wonderful job' they've done during a week-long campaign to take out much of Iran's nuclear and military capabilities, and said the Israeli operation — along with tonight's American airstrikes — had 'gone a long way to erasing this horrible threat to Israel' from the Iranian nuclear program. He also warned Tehran that their aggression in the region and their nuclear ambitions 'cannot continue' and cautioned Iranian leaders not to retaliate. 'There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran, far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days. Remember, there are many targets left. Tonight's was the most difficult of them all, by far, and perhaps the most lethal. But if peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill, most of them can be taken out in a matter of minutes,' he said. The president's remarks came just hours after he took to Truth Social to announce that U.S. forces had struck Iranian nuclear facilities in Natanz and Esfahan, as well as the Fordow enrichment facility hidden in a mountain near the city of Qom, ending days of speculation over whether he'd order American forces to join Israel's week-old campaign to knock out Tehran's nuclear weapons program with a surprise attack aimed at bringing Iranian officials back to the negotiating table.
Sky News
an hour ago
- Sky News
US warplanes transit through UK: Here's what the flight tracking data shows
Flight tracking data shows extensive movement of US military aircraft towards the Middle East in recent days, including via the UK. Fifty-two US military planes were spotted flying over the eastern Mediterranean towards the Middle East between Monday and Thursday. That includes at least 25 that passed through Chania airport, on the Greek island of Crete - an eight-fold increase in the rate of arrivals compared to the first half of June. The movement of military equipment comes as the US considers whether to assist Israel in its conflict with Iran. Of the 52 planes spotted over the eastern Mediterranean, 32 are used for transporting troops or cargo, 18 are used for mid-air refuelling and two are reconnaissance planes. Forbes McKenzie, founder of McKenzie Intelligence, says that this indicates "the build-up of warfighting capability, which was not [in the region] before". Sky's data does not include fighter jets, which typically fly without publicly revealing their location. An air traffic control recording from Wednesday suggests that F-22 Raptors are among the planes being sent across the Atlantic, while 12 F-35 fighter jets were photographed travelling from the UK to the Middle East on Wednesday. Many US military planes are passing through UK A growing number of US Air Force planes have been passing through the UK in recent days. Analysis of flight tracking data at three key air bases in the UK shows 63 US military flights landing between 16 and 19 June - more than double the rate of arrivals earlier in June. On Thursday, Sky News filmed three US military C-17A Globemaster III transport aircraft and a C-130 Hercules military cargo plane arriving at Glasgow's Prestwick Airport. Flight tracking data shows that one of the planes arrived from an air base in Jordan, having earlier travelled there from Germany. What does Israel need from US? Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on 15 March that his country's aim is to remove "two existential threats - the nuclear threat and the ballistic missile threat". Israel says that Iran is attempting to develop a nuclear bomb, though Iran says its nuclear facilities are only for civilian energy purposes. A US intelligence assessment in March concluded that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon. President Trump dismissed the assessment on Tuesday, saying: "I think they were very close to having one." Forbes McKenzie says the Americans have a "very similar inventory of weapons systems" to the Israelis, "but of course, they also have the much-talked-about GBU-57". The GBU-57 is a 30,000lb bomb - the largest non-nuclear bomb in existence. Mr McKenzie explains that it is "specifically designed to destroy targets which are very deep underground". Experts say it is the only weapon with any chance of destroying Iran's main enrichment site, which is located underneath a mountain at Fordow. Air-to-air refuelling could allow Israel to carry larger bombs Among the dozens of US aircraft that Sky News tracked over the eastern Mediterranean in recent days, more than a third (18 planes) were designed for air-to-air refuelling. "These are crucial because Israel is the best part of a thousand miles away from Iran," says Sky News military analyst Sean Bell. "Most military fighter jets would struggle to do those 2,000-mile round trips and have enough combat fuel." The ability to refuel mid-flight would also allow Israeli planes to carry heavier munitions, including bunker-buster bombs necessary to destroy the tunnels and silos where Iran stores many of its missiles. Satellite imagery captured on 15 June shows the aftermath of Israeli strikes on a missile facility near the western city of Kermanshah, which destroyed at least 12 buildings at the site. At least four tunnel entrances were also damaged in the strikes, two of which can be seen in the image below. Writing for Jane's Defence Weekly, military analyst Jeremy Binnie says it looked like the tunnels were "targeted using guided munitions coming in at angles, not destroyed from above using penetrator bombs, raising the possibility that the damage can be cleared, enabling any [missile launchers] trapped inside to deploy". "This might reflect the limited payloads that Israeli aircraft can carry to Iran," he adds. Penetrator bombs, also known as bunker-busters, are much heavier than other types of munitions and as a result require more fuel to transport. Israel does not have the latest generation of refuelling aircraft, Mr Binnie says, meaning it is likely to struggle to deploy a significant number of penetrator bombs. Israel has struck most of Iran's western missile bases Even without direct US assistance, the Israeli air force has managed to inflict significant damage on Iran's missile launch capacity. Sky News has confirmed Israeli strikes on at least five of Iran's six known missile bases in the west of the country. On Monday, the IDF said that its strategy of targeting western launch sites had forced Iran to rely on its bases in the centre of the country, such as Isfahan - around 1,500km (930 miles) from Israel. Among Iran's most advanced weapons are three types of solid-fuelled rockets fitted with highly manoeuvrable warheads: Fattah-1, Kheibar Shekan and Haj Qassam. The use of solid fuel makes these missiles easy to transport and fast to launch, while their manoeuvrable warheads make them better at evading Israeli air defences. However, none of them are capable of striking Israel from such a distance. Iran is known to possess five types of missile capable of travelling more than 1,500km, but only one of these uses solid fuel - the Sijjil-1. On 18 June, Iran claimed to have used this missile against Israel for the first time. Iran's missiles have caused significant damage Iran's missile attacks have killed at least 24 people in Israel and wounded hundreds, according to the Israeli foreign ministry. The number of air raid alerts in Israel has topped 1,000 every day since the start of hostilities, reaching a peak of 3,024 on 15 June. Iran has managed to strike some government buildings, including one in the city of Haifa on Friday. And on 13 June, in Iran's most notable targeting success so far, an Iranian missile impacted on or near the headquarters of Israel's defence ministry in Tel Aviv. Most of the Iranian strikes verified by Sky News, however, have hit civilian targets. These include residential buildings, a school and a university. On Thursday, one missile hit the Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba, southern Israel's main hospital. More than 70 people were injured, according to Israel's health ministry. Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said that Iran had struck a nearby technology park containing an IDF cyber defence training centre, and that the "blast wave caused superficial damage to a small section" of the hospital. However, the technology park is in fact 1.2km away from where the missile struck. Photos of the hospital show evidence of a direct hit, with a large section of one building's roof completely destroyed. Iran successfully struck the technology park on Friday, though its missile fell in an open area, causing damage to a nearby residential building but no casualties. Israel has killed much of Iran's military leadership It's not clear exactly how many people Israel's strikes in Iran have killed, or how many are civilians. Estimates by human rights groups of the total number of fatalities exceed 600. What is clear is that among the military personnel killed are many key figures in the Iranian armed forces, including the military's chief of staff, deputy head of intelligence and deputy head of operations. Key figures in the powerful Revolutionary Guard have also been killed, including the militia's commander-in-chief, its aerospace force commander and its air defences commander. On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that US assistance was not necessary for Israel to win the war. "We will achieve all our objectives and hit all of their nuclear facilities," he said. "We have the capability to do that." 3:49 Forbes McKenzie says that while Israel has secured significant victories in the war so far, "they only have so much fuel, they only have so many munitions". "The Americans have an ability to keep up the pace of operations that the Israelis have started, and they're able to do it for an indefinite period of time." Additional reporting by data journalist Joely Santa Cruz and OSINT producers Freya Gibson, Lina-Sirine Zitout and Sam Doak.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
What we know about US airstrikes on Iran's nuclear facilities
US President Donald Trump says the American military has completed strikes on three nuclear sites in Iran, marking a significant escalation in the ongoing war between Iran and Israel."We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan. All planes are now outside of Iran air space," he wrote on Truth added that a "full payload of bombs" were dropped on Fordo, an enrichment plant hidden in a remote mountainside that is vital to Iran's nuclear officials say they were in "full coordination" with the US in planning these could respond by targeting US military assets in the region. Its officials had earlier warned that they would retaliate and that any US attack risked a regional war. Here is a breakdown of what we know so far. How did this start? Israel launched a surprise attack on dozens of Iranian nuclear and military targets on 13 June. It said its ambition was to dismantle its nuclear programme, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said would soon be able to produce a nuclear insists its nuclear ambitions are peaceful. In retaliation, Tehran launched hundreds of rockets and drones towards Israel. The two countries have continued exchanging strikes since, in an air war which has now lasted more than a has long said that he is opposed to Iran possessing a nuclear March, US national intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard said that while Iran had increased its uranium stockpile to unprecedented levels, it was not building a nuclear weapon - an assessment that Trump recently said was "wrong".On the campaign trail, President Trump had criticised past US administrations for engaging in "stupid endless wars" in the Middle East, and he vowed to keep America out of foreign US and Iran were in nuclear talks at the time of Israel's surprise attack. Two days ago, President Trump had said he would give Iran two weeks to enter into substantial negotiations before striking - but that timeline turned out to be much, much live: US attacks Iran nuclear sitesIsrael-Iran: How did latest conflict start and where could it lead?Iran's secretive nuclear site that only a US bomb could hit What has the US bombed, and what weapons did it use? One of the sites the US attacked was a secretive nuclear site called Fordo. It is hidden away in a mountainside south of Tehran, and is believed to be deeper underground than the Channel Tunnel connecting the UK and uranium enrichment site is considered by experts to be vital to Iran's nuclear depth below the Earth's surface has made it difficult to reach with Israel's weaponry. Only the US was considered to have a "bunker buster" bomb strong and large enough to destroy American bomb is called the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP). It weighs 13,000kg (30,000lb), and is able to penetrate about 18m of concrete or 61m of earth before exploding, according to tunnels are thought to be 80m to 90m below the surface, so the MOP is not guaranteed to be successful, but it is the only bomb that could come officials have confirmed to the BBC's partner CBS News that MOPs were used in the strikes, with two for each target struck. What is the impact on the ground in Iran? It is unclear yet what damage the US attack has had on the nuclear enrichment facilities, or whether there are any injuries or deputy political director of Iran's state broadcaster, Hassan Abedini, said Iran evacuated these three nuclear sites a "while ago".Appearing on state-run television, he said Iran "didn't suffer a major blow because the materials had already been taken out".Iran has said that more than 200 people were killed since its latest round of fighting with Israel began, and more than 1,200 were Israel is ramping up security in the wake of the US attacks on Iran's key nuclear has tightened its public security restrictions across the country, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) upgrade - including a "prohibition on education activities, gatherings, and workplaces" - comes after the US strikes on Iran. How might Iran retaliate? Iran has been weakened significantly by Israel's attacks on its military bases so far, experts say, as well as the dismantling of its regional proxies in Lebanon (Hezbollah), in Syria and in Gaza (Hamas). But Iran is still capable of doing a considerable amount of officials warned the US against getting involved, saying it would suffer "irreparable damage" and that it risked an "all-out war" in the has threatened to target US bases in the region in retaliation. The US operates military sites across at least 19 regions in the Middle East, including in Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab the most obvious targets for Iran is the US Navy's 5th Fleet HQ at Mina Salman in could also target a critical shipping route known as the Strait of Hormuz, which links the Persian Gulf to the Indian Ocean and through which 30% of the world's oil supply is transported. It could also attack on other sea routes that risk destabilising global could also target the assets of nearby countries it perceives to be aiding the US, which risks the war spilling over to the entire region. Does Trump need approval from Congress to send the US to war? Under US law, the president does not have the sole power to formally declare war on another country. Only Congress - lawmakers elected in the House of Representatives and the Senate - the law also states that the president is the Commander in Chief of the armed forces. That means he can deploy US troops and conduct military operations without a formal declaration of example, Trump's decision to conduct airstrikes in Syria in 2017 against the Assad regime did not require approval from Congress. Instead, Trump acted unilaterally, citing national security and humanitarian lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have recently tried to limit Trump's ability to order US strikes on Iran by pushing a war powers resolution through Congress, though it may take weeks before it is put to a formal vote, and such measures are more symbolic than substantive.
