Boeing Pleads Guilty to Criminal Fraud Charge

Today, Boeing is pleading guilty to a criminal fraud charge tied to fatal 747 Max airplane crashes.

The Justice Department says that the aerospace giant violated a 2021 settlement that shielded it from prosecution.

NBC's Tom Costello has that story.

More than five years after two fatal Max 8 crashes overseas killed 346 people, this morning Boeing has agreed to plead guilty to a single felony charge related to the crashes. That charge, conspiring to defraud the federal government. Boeing confirmed overnight it had reached the plea deal with the Justice Department. The deal already though drawing reaction.

Victim families feel like Boeing is getting off easy.

Court documents indicate Boeing would pay an additional $235 million fine and be required to invest more than $455 million in compliance and safety programs. What the plea deal does not demand is legal accountability for the many lives lost. A faulty flight control system, called MCAS, was implicated in both deadly crashes. A multi-billion dollar settlement in 2021 allowed Boeing to avoid prosecution. But last month, prosecutors accused the company of breaching that agreement. (01:20) Overnight, pushback came swiftly from the victim's families who had chanted shame at the CEO. And their lawyer's blasted what they call a sweetheart deal.

346 people died in those two crashes, therefore, a plea to manslaughter would be more fitting.

Boeing has come under increased scrutiny following a series of mishaps, including a door panel that blew off an Alaska Airlines Max 9 flight, mid-flight. For its part, Boeing has committed to changes from the boardroom to the assembly line.

We have tried to look at literally everything we do to make certain that that can never happen again.

But those promises ring hollow for the grieving relatives who are calling for even more action.

I think that when people are not held accountable, you're setting a standard of what you can get away with.