Celebrity Lawyer Thomas Girardi Sentenced to 7 Years for Fraud
Girardi, 86, was found guilty by a jury in August for four counts of wire fraud. His clients included families of victims of the 2018 Lion Air plane crash. His Los Angeles law firm, Girardi Keese, filed for bankruptcy in 2020, and he was disbarred in 2022.
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The Onion
8 hours ago
- The Onion
George R.R. Martin Finally Finishes Writing Sequel To ‘Erin Brockovich'
SANTA FE, NM—Stressing that fans of the franchise were about to be richly rewarded for their patience, author George R.R. Martin announced Tuesday that he had finally finished writing his sequel to the 2000 film Erin Brockovich . 'At long last, the wait is over—my script for Erin Brockovich 2: A Kiss Of Chromium is officially complete!' Martin said in a press statement, adding that the project had stalled as a result of his involvement in other creative ventures, as well as his perfectionism and desire to give the Erin Brockovich character the ending he felt she deserved. 'It took more than a decade of hard work to build out the setting of California enough to make this sequel feel real. But I think fans are ultimately going to be glad I took my time writing it, even the ones who spent years badgering me to hurry up! Now that it's complete, I have plans for a prequel series set 8,000 years before the original Erin Brockovich .' At press time, Martin had reportedly delayed the sequel for rewrites after spoilers about Erin Brockovich's life leaked on her Wikipedia page.
04-08-2025
Boeing addresses more labor strife amid attempt to resuscitate its reputation
A strike by thousands of workers that build fighter jets for Boeing at three U.S. plants is the second labor disruption for the plane builder in less than a year. The strike that began just after midnight Monday involving more than 3,000 members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers arrives as Boeing is attempts resuscitate its reputation. Boeing, once a beacon of U.S. manufacturing and the gold standard in the global aircraft industry, has been rocked by fatal crashes, investigations and changes in leadership. Following is a quick rundown of events that have buffeted the Arlington, Va., company. ___ January 2013: 787s worldwide are grounded nearly three weeks after lithium ion batteries that are part of the planes led to a fire in one plane and smoke in a second. August 2015: The first 737 Max plane rolls off the production line and within a year are undergoing flight tests. Oct. 29, 2018: Lion Air Flight 610, a Boeing 737 Max 8, plunges into the Java Sea off the coast of Indonesia minutes after takeoff from Jakarta, killing all 189 people on board. Questions are raised over a new Boeing flight-control system called MCAS that Boeing did not disclose to pilots and airlines. Indonesian investigators say the Flight 610 pilots struggled for control as the automated system pushed the nose of the plane down more than two dozen times. March 1, 2019: Wall Street remains enamored with Boeing as commercial aircraft orders rocket. Shares of Boeing Co. close at an all-time high of $430.35. March 10, 2019: Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, a Boeing 737 Max 8, crashes after takeoff from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, killing 157 passengers and crew members. Shares of Boeing begin a long, downward slide and have yet to recover. March 2019: Within days of the second crash, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and regulators in nations around the world order the grounding of all 737 Max jets. Dec. 23, 2019: Boeing ousts CEO Dennis Muilenburg, who was seen as pressuring the FAA to lift the Max grounding order. Jan. 7, 2021: U.S. Justice Department charges Boeing with fraud but won't prosecute the company for misleading regulators about the 737 Max if it pays a $2.5 billion settlement. Jan. 5, 2024: A panel covering an unused emergency exit blows off a 737 Max 9 during an Alaska Airlines flight. Pilots land the plane safely. Feb. 26, 2024: A panel of outside experts, convened after the two deadly crashes, reports Boeing's safety culture falls short despite the company's efforts to fix it. March 11, 2024: A LATAM Airlines Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner flight between Australia and New Zealand suddenly plunges, injuring 50 people. Boeing tells airlines to inspect switches on pilots' seats after a published report said an accidental cockpit seat movement likely cause the rapid loss of altitude. March 25, 2024: Dave Calhoun, who replaced Muilenburg, says he will step down as CEO by year-end as part of a broader shakeup of Boeing leadership. July 7, 2024: Boeing agrees to plead guilty to conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government for misleading regulators who approved pilot-training standards for the Max. July 31, 2024: Boeing names Kelly Ortberg as its new chief executive. Ortberg is a trained engineer and was CEO of aerospace supplier Rockwell Collins for eight years. Many see his appointment as an attempt by Boeing to get back to its roots. Sept 13, 2024: About 33,000 Boeing factory workers walk off the job in a strike that will cripple production at one of the preeminent manufacturers in the U.S. for almost two months. It is the first labor action taken against the company in 16 years. May 23, 2025: The Justice Department reaches a deal with Boeing that takes criminal prosecution off the table for allegedly misleading regulators about the 737 Max jetliner before the two fatal planes crashes. Boeing agreed to pay or invest more than $1.1 billion, including an additional $445 million for crash victims' families, removing the risk of a criminal conviction that would have jeopardized the company's status as a federal contractor.
The Verge
28-07-2025
- The Verge
How Trump let Boeing off the hook for the 737 MAX crashes
On July 18th, a federal judge in Texas scheduled what will likely be the final hearing in the case of United States v. The Boeing Company. After five years of litigation, the end result can only be described as a victory for Boeing — and a permanent setback for those who hoped that the company would be held accountable for a decade of safety violations. Last year, Boeing's prospects looked far bleaker. In 2021, the Department of Justice charged the company with conspiracy to defraud the government about the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) software on the 737 MAX, which has been linked to the deaths of 346 people in the crashes of Lion Air 610 and Ethiopian Airlines 302. (The Verge first covered this story in 2019.) After years of legal maneuvering, the company agreed to plead guilty to the conspiracy charge in July 2024 in order to avoid a criminal trial. Under the plea bargain's terms, Boeing would pay nearly $2.5 billion to airlines, families of crash victims, and the government, plus accept three years of monitoring from an independent safety consultant. That agreement was thrown out by a federal judge in December, and a trial date was set for June 2025. If convicted, Boeing would not be able to simply pay its way out of trouble. As a corporate felon, the company would have to permanently accept increased government scrutiny over every part of its business — a return to a regulatory model that Congress repealed in 2005, after significant lobbying by the aviation and defense industries. According to one legal think tank, United States v. Boeing had the potential to be one of the most significant corporate compliance judgments in decades. But then Donald Trump returned to the White House. Many of Trump's strongest political allies have benefited from significant changes in policy under the new administration: the crypto industry, industrial polluters, and Elon Musk, to name a few. Boeing has spent a considerable amount of money building a relationship with Trump, too. It donated $1 million to his inauguration fund, and its CEO accompanied Trump on his recent trip to Qatar. Its payout came last May, when the head of the DOJ's Criminal Division, Matthew Galeotti, announced a change of enforcement strategy. Galeotti directed his division to no longer pursue 'overboard and unchecked corporate and white-collar enforcement [that] burdens U.S. businesses and harms U.S. interests.' Instead, he wanted it to focus on a narrower set of crimes, including terrorism, tariff-dodging, drug trafficking, and 'Chinese Money Laundering Organizations.' 'Not all corporate misconduct warrants federal criminal prosecution,' the memo stated. 'It is critical to American prosperity to acknowledge …companies that are willing to learn from their mistakes.' Boeing has spent a considerable amount of money building a relationship with Trump. Two weeks later, the DOJ agreed to drop the charges against Boeing completely. Instead of pleading guilty, Boeing would now just be liable for a reduced monetary penalty of around $1.2 billion: $235 million in new fines, plus $445 million into a fund for the families of the 737 MAX crash victims. It would also have to invest $455 million to enhance its 'compliance and safety programs,' part of which would pay for an 'independent compliance consultant' for two years of oversight. It avoided a felony charge, and more importantly, it was allowed to continue self-auditing its own products. The DOJ's rationale for the change was that it expects companies to be 'willing to learn from [their] mistakes.' This is not a skill that Boeing seems to possess. The company makes plenty of mistakes. Its 737 MAX has been plagued by computer errors that go far beyond MCAS. Its strategy of outsourcing production to third-party suppliers has been a consistent source of manufacturing errors and delays for almost a decade. Its lack of investment in quality control in its factories have caused new airplanes to be delivered with a variety of severe defects: excessive gaps in airplane fuselages, metal debris near critical wiring bundles or inside fuel tanks, and door plugs installed without security bolts. The latter issue led to the explosive decompression of Alaska Airlines 1282 in January 2024, an incident that went viral thanks to the dramatic passenger video taken from inside the cabin. But Boeing does not seem to be able to learn from its mistakes. According to the DOJ, Boeing has known all of this and has still 'fail[ed] to design, implement, and enforce a compliance and ethics program.' Although the company has brought on two new CEOs in the last six years, each of whom promised to clean things up, Boeing's core culture still remains — which is the root cause of all of its technical problems. The DOJ's rationale for the change was that it expects companies to be 'willing to learn from [their] mistakes.' This is not a skill that Boeing seems to possess. As I wrote in my book about the 737 MAX crashes, Boeing is so large and so firmly entrenched as one of the world's two major commercial airplane makers that it is functionally immune from the market's invisible hand. It is so strategically and economically important that it will always get bailed out, even in the face of a global crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic. And it makes so much money every year that even the multibillion-dollar fines that the DOJ is willing to impose amount to just a small portion of its annual revenues. 'Boeing became too big to fail,' former FTC chair Lina Khan said in a 2024 speech. 'Worse quality is one of the harms that most economists expect from monopolization, because firms that face little competition have limited incentive to improve their products.' If regulators won't step in and force Boeing to change, then it will continue to prioritize profits over safety — the only rational choice in a consequence-free environment. This might be a good bargain for its shareholders, but not for passengers. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All by Darryl Campbell Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Aviation Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Boeing Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Policy Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. 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