Families of victims appalled as Boeing seems likely to avoid prosecution over 737 Max crashes
Boeing is set to avoid prosecution in a fraud case sparked by two fatal crashes of its bestselling 737 Max jet that killed 346 people, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The US Department of Justice is considering a non-prosecution agreement, relatives of the victims were told on Friday, through which the US aerospace giant would not be required to plead guilty.
Representatives of the crash victims' families expressed outrage, describing the proposal as 'morally repugnant' after a tense call with senior justice department officials.
Boeing and the justice department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The tentative deal between Boeing and the justice department was first reported by Reuters.
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, claiming 157 lives.
The second crash prompted the worldwide grounding of the 737 Max for almost two years, and left Boeing scrambling to repair its reputation.
Investigators from Israel examine wreckage at the scene of the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 crash near Bishoftu in Ethiopia in 2019. File picture: Mulugeta Ayene/AP
While Boeing initially resolved a criminal investigation in January 2021, prosecutors accused it of breaching the settlement in 2024. This led the justice department to offer the firm a controversial plea deal last summer.
In December, however, US district Judge Reed O'Connor in Texas rejected the agreement. He cited a diversity and inclusion provision related to the selection of an independent monitor.
While Boeing had agreed to plead guilty to a criminal fraud conspiracy charge and pay a fine of up to $487.2m during the final months of the Biden administration, O'Connor's decision meant the Trump administration inherited the case.
Under Donald Trump, the justice department has been overhauled, and his administration has faced questions around how aggressively it intends to pursue big companies that break the law.
Sanjiv Singh, counsel for 16 families of crash victims, said: 'We are appalled by this sudden possible retreat from criminal prosecution of Boeing.
A non-prosecution agreement is morally repugnant and lacks the teeth and bite to cause fundamental change in Boeings safety practices.' Shares in Boeing slipped 0.5% in New York.
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Irish Examiner
an hour ago
- Irish Examiner
Overly bureaucratic policies to encourage entrepreneurship need to be reviewed
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The continuing uncertainty is having an impact on firms' investment decisions as they look to incorporate a 'wait-and-see' approach. In this context, it is important to look at Ireland's capability to continue to deliver economic and employment growth in a (still hypothetical) world where the level of FDI is lower than it has been. The health and prosperity of our homegrown businesses will be vitally important in this scenario. Ireland has a track record of generating world-beating businesses, but the reality is the current policy environment is not calibrated to achieve our full potential in this area. Successive governments have sought to introduce various policies to foster more entrepreneurship. Adjustments are made year-to-year across budgets, but the day-to-day reality has been that the design of some of these schemes is not suitable to achieve the desired ends. Tax practitioners like myself and my colleagues are seeing this on a regular basis as we seek to help clients utilise these schemes. KEEP scheme Take the KEEP scheme for example. This is designed to enable companies to grant share options to employees on a tax-efficient basis, essentially so the share is taxed within the capital gains bracket rather than the income tax bracket. Granting share options to employees is a good way of supplementing their remuneration in an environment where large firms with deep pockets are competing for the same talent. The issue with KEEP, unfortunately, is it is not working in practice; take-up is extremely low. What we see in our practice is that firms will tend to opt for so-called 'unapproved' share schemes rather than KEEP, even though the unapproved schemes are taxed more heavily from the perspective of the employee. Why are they doing this? The biggest reason we can see is the limit that attaches to the total value of share options that can be issued to an individual employee (€300,000). There is also a limit of €6m on the total amount of share options that can be issued (across all employees) and unexercised at any point in time. These limits restrict firms' ability to offer really competitive packages across their companies. Instead, they are opting for unapproved schemes that mean employees can be offered a higher value of share options, albeit in a less tax-efficient manner. The UK equivalent of KEEP, which has much less red tape attached, works much better, and the Government should look to draw lessons from it. Angel investor scheme On March 1, the Government commenced the new angel investor relief scheme which aims to incentivise investment in startups by reducing capital gains tax to 16%-18% on the sale by angel investors of these investments. It is early days, but we are not optimistic for take-up. 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The Irish Sun
5 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Elon Musk has PTSD & made a MISTAKE by helping Trump, his dad claims as he reveals verdict on what caused explosive feud
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RTÉ News
7 hours ago
- RTÉ News
Trump deploys National Guard to Los Angeles protests
US President Donald Trump's administration said it would deploy 2,000 National Guard troops as federal agents in Los Angeles faced off against demonstrators for a second day following immigration raids. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth warned that the Pentagon was prepared to mobilise active-duty troops "if violence continues" in Los Angeles, saying the Marines at nearby Camp Pendleton were "on high alert". Federal security agents confronted protesters in the Paramount area in southeast Los Angeles, where some demonstrators displayed Mexican flags and others covered their mouths with respiratory masks. A second protest in downtown Los Angeles last night attracted some 60 people, who chanted slogans including "ICE out of L.A.!" Mr Trump signed a presidential memorandum to deploy the National Guard troops to "address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester," the White House said in a statement, while Mr Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, told Fox News that the National Guard would be deployed in Los Angeles. "Great job by the National Guard in Los Angeles," Mr Trump said in a post on Truth Social. He criticised California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass for their handling of the protests and recent wildfires. Mr Trump also said that masks would not be allowed to be worn at protests "from now on". California Governor Gavin Newsom called the decision "purposefully inflammatory". Mr Newsom said it was "deranged behavior" for Mr Hegseth to be "threatening to deploy active-duty Marines on American soil against its own citizens". "If Governor Gavin Newscum, of California, and Mayor Karen Bass, of Los Angeles, can't do their jobs, which everyone knows they can't, then the Federal Government will step in and solve the problem, RIOTS & LOOTERS, the way it should be solved!!!" Mr Trump posted yesterday on his Truth Social platform. US Senator for California Adam Schiff called Mr Trump's actions "unprecedented", adding that the deployment is "designed to inflame tensions, sow chaos, and escalate the situation". The protests pit Democratic-run Los Angeles, where census data suggests a significant portion of the population is Hispanic and foreign-born, against Mr Trump's Republican White House, which has made cracking down on immigration a hallmark of his second term. The Trump Administration's calling on the California National Guard without the authorization of the Governor is unprecedented. This action is designed to inflame tensions, sow chaos, and escalate the situation. If the Guard is needed to restore peace, the Governor will ask for… — Adam Schiff (@SenAdamSchiff) June 8, 2025 "Insurrectionists carrying foreign flags are attacking immigration enforcement officers, while one half of America's political leadership has decided that border enforcement is evil," Vice President JD Vance posted on X. Senior White House aide Stephen Miller, an immigration hardliner, described the protests as a "violent insurrection". The administration has not invoked the Insurrection Act, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. One said that National Guard troops can deploy quickly, within 24 hours in some cases, and that the military was working to source the 2,000 troops. The 1807 law empowers a president to deploy the US military to enforce the law and suppress events like civil disorder. The last time it was invoked was during the 1992 Los Angeles riots at the request of the California governor. Late yesterday afternoon, authorities began detaining some protesters, according to witnesses. Los Angeles police posted on X that "multiple people have been detained for failing to disperse after multiple warnings were issued". There was no immediate official information of any arrests. Video footage showed dozens of green-uniformed security personnel with gas masks lined up on a road strewn with overturned shopping carts as small canisters exploded into gas clouds. "Now they know that they cannot go to anywhere in this country where our people are, and try to kidnap our workers, our people - they cannot do that without an organized and fierce resistance," said protester Ron Gochez, 44. A first round of protests kicked off on Friday night after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents conducted enforcement operations in the city and arrested at least 44 people on alleged immigration violations. The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that there were about "1,000 rioters" at the protests on Friday. Angelica Salas, executive director of immigrants' rights organisation Chirla, said lawyers had not had access to those detained on Friday, which she called "very worrying". 'Tactics sow terror in communities' - LA Mayor Donald Trump has pledged to deport record numbers of people in the country illegally and lock down the US-Mexico border, with the White House setting a goal for ICE to arrest at least 3,000 migrants per day. But the sweeping immigration crackdown has also caught up people legally residing in the country, including some with permanent residence, and has led to legal challenges. ICE, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Los Angeles Police Department did not respond to requests for comment on the protests or potential immigration sweeps. Television news footage on Friday showed unmarked vehicles resembling military transport and vans loaded with uniformed federal agents streaming through Los Angeles streets as part of the immigration enforcement operation. Raids occurred around Home Depot stores, where street vendors and day laborers were picked up, as well as at a garment factory and a warehouse, Angelica Salas said. Karen Bass, the Democratic mayor of Los Angeles, condemned the immigration raids. "I am deeply angered by what has taken place," Mr Bass said in a statement. "These tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city. We will not stand for this."
