Boeing accepts $243.6 million plea deal to avoid a criminal trial over deadly 737 Max crashes

• READ MORE: Boeing CEO apologizes to crash victims

Boeing executives have accepted a $243.6million plea deal that would see the company avoid a criminal trial over two deadly 737 Max crashes.

Under the agreement, Boeing will plead guilty to a criminal fraud charge stemming from the fatal crashes in Indonesia in October 2018 and in Ethiopia less than five months later that killed a combined 346 people.

Boeing must also pay the hefty fine, invest at least $455million in compliance and safety programs, and have an independent monitor oversee Boeing's safety and quality procedures for three years.

The agreement came just days after federal prosecutors gave Boeing the choice of entering a guilty plea and paying the fine or facing a trial on felony criminal charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States.

They have argued that the aerospace company deceived regulators who approved the airplane and pilot-training requirements.

The plea deal must now be approved by a federal judge in Texas in order to take effect.

The judge - who has previously criticized what he called 'Boeing's egregious criminal conduct' - could then approve the plea deal, or he could completely reject the agreement, which would likely prompt the Justice Department to create new negotiations with Boeing. 

But even then the plea deal would only cover the company's wrongdoing before the crashes, in which all of the passengers and crew members perished.

It would not give the company immunity for other incidents, including a panel that blew off a Max jetliner during an Alaska Airlines flight in January, and would not cover any current or former Boeing officials - only the company itself.

Attorneys representing some of the families of the crash have said they are going to pressure the judge to reject the agreement.

'This sweetheart deal fails to recognize that because of Boeing's conspiracy, 346 people died,' said attorney Paul Cassell.

'Through crafty lawyering between Boeing and [the] DOJ, the deadly consequences of Boeing's crimes are hidden.'

The relatives have pushed for a criminal trial, arguing that it may prove Boeing executives knew they were deceiving the Federal Aviation Administration about its faulty flight-control system.

They also want the Justice Department to prosecute those officials.

'Boeing has paid fines many a time and it doesn't seem to make any change,' said Ike Riffel, of Redding, California, whose sons died in the Ethiopian Airlines crash.

'When people start going to prison, that's when you are going to see a change.' 

In the two crashes - in Indonesia in 2018 and in Ethiopia in 2019 - MCAS automatically pointed the nose of the plane down based on faulty sensor readings, and pilots were unable to regain control.

On October 29, 2018, the Boeing 737 MAX operating the Lion Air Flight 610 crashed into the Java Sea 13 minutes after takeoff, killing all 189 passengers and crew.

The pilot at the time did not know that the software could push the nose of the plane down. 

Five months later, on March 10, 2019, the Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft which operated Ethiopian flight 302 crashed near the town of Bishoftu, Ethiopia, six minutes after takeoff, killing all 157 people aboard.

Pilots on that plane knew about the software issue, but were unable to control the plane when the software activated based on information from a faulty sensor. 

But Boeing downplayed the significance of the system, and didn´t overhaul it until after the second crash.

The Justice Department investigated Boeing in 2021, and charged the company with deceiving FAA regulators about the software - which did not exist in older 737s and about how much training the pilots would need to fly the plane safely.

After secret negotiations, the government agreed not to prosecute Boeing on a charge of defrauding the United States by deceiving regulators who approved the plane.

In exchange, the company paid $2.5 billion - a $243.6 million fine, a $500 million fund for victim compensation, and nearly $1.8 billion to airlines whose Max jets were grounded.

But in May, officials determined the company breached the agreement - setting the stage for criminal charges.

Glenn Leon, head of the Justice Department criminal division's fraud section, said in a letter filed in Texas federal court that Boeing failed to make changes to prevent it from violating federal anti-fraud laws - a condition of the the 2021 settlement.

The department claims that Boeing failed to 'design, implement, and enforce a compliance and ethics program to prevent and detect violations of the U.S. fraud laws', according to NBC. 

Lawmakers have since also released a report with explosive allegations from a Boeing quality insurance inspector, Sam Mohawk, who said the company installed faulty parts onto planes and that he was later told by his managers to conceal the evidence from government regulators 

Boeing officials, however, denied those claims.

'We believe that we have honored the terms of that agreement, and look forward to the opportunity to respond to the Department on this issue,' a spokesperson said at the time.

'As we do so, we will engage with the Department with the utmost transparency, as we have throughout the entire term of the agreement, including in response to their questions following the Alaska Airlines 1282 accident.'

But at a recent Senate hearing, Boeing CEO David Calhoun apologized to the crash victim's families.

'I'm deeply sorry… my whole team at Boeing, everybody worldwide past and present,' Calhoun said.