US DOJ accused of offering 'sweetheart plea deal' to Boeing over fatal crashes that killed 346

The news has infuriated the loved ones of hundreds of passengers who died in the two fatal crashes five years ago

The US Department of Justice is set to charge Boeing with fraud but reports are emerging that the department might offer the planemaker a favourable plea deal. The news has infuriated the loved ones of hundreds of passengers who died in the two fatal crashes five years ago. According to The Guardian , the aircraft manufacturer will have to decide by the end of this week whether it will plead guilty to the charge and avoid trial. The DoJ officials informed the families of those on board the fatal Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 about the plea deal. The fatal accidents claimed 346 lives. The attorneys representing the relatives accused the federal government of “cooking up another sweetheart plea deal” with Boeing. During the online briefing, one of the family members asked the officials how he sleeps at night. Families urge the judge to reject the plea deal The terms of the deal attracted severe criticism from the victims’ loved ones. “The memory of 346 innocents killed by Boeing demands more justice than this,” said Paul Cassell, who represents the families of 15 crash victims. Another attorney in the case described the proposal as “shameful” and stated that it “completely fails to mention or recognize the dignity” of the victims. The families are now planning to make a case to the judge and the wider public, for this deal to be rejected, Applebaum said. “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," he added. The Justice Department has yet to comment on the matter. The two crashes of Boeing’s 737 Max, in October 2018 and March 2019, killed 346 people and prompted the worldwide grounding of the jet for almost two years. In 2021, the justice department and Boeing reached a controversial deal that protected Boeing from a criminal conspiracy charge. In recent months, the company has come under intense scrutiny after a brand-new 737 Max jet was forced into an emergency landing when a cabin panel blew off mid-flight. At that time the Justice Department said that Boeing breached the agreement. “The deal will not acknowledge, in any way, that Boeing’s crime killed 346 people,” Cassell said. “It also appears to rest on the idea that Boeing did not harm any victim," he added. With inputs from agencies.