Boeing has agreed to plead guilty to a US criminal fraud charge stemming from the crashes of two 737 Max jetliners, angering the families of the hundreds of passengers killed who had wanted the case to go to trial.
Federal prosecutors had found that the American aircraft manufacturer was in violation of a 2021 agreement struck after the crashes, which had protected it from prosecution for more than three years.
Last week they gave Boeing the choice of entering a guilty plea and paying a fine as part of its sentence or facing a trial on the felony criminal charge of conspiracy to defraud the US over the crashes, which claimed 346 lives.
Under the new plea deal, which must receive the approval of a federal judge to take effect, Boeing will pay a $243.6m fine, according to a justice department (DoJ) document filed in federal court in Texas.
The company has also agreed to invest at least $455m over the next three years to strengthen its safety and compliance programmes, the department said.
波音公司已同意对美国一项因两架 737 Max 客机坠毁而提出的刑事欺诈指控认罪，这激怒了数百名遇难乘客的家属，他们希望此案能进入审判阶段。
联邦检察官发现，这家美国飞机制造商违反了坠机事故发生后达成的 2021 年协议，该协议保护波音公司三年多的时间免受起诉。
上周，他们给了波音两个选择：要么认罪并支付罚款作为刑期的一部分，要么因阴谋欺诈美国而面临重罪刑事指控的审判，该事故造成 346 人丧生。
根据美国司法部提交给德克萨斯州联邦法院的一份文件，根据新的认罪协议，波音公司将支付 2.436 亿美元的罚款，该协议必须获得联邦法官的批准才能生效。
司法部表示，该公司还同意在未来三年内投资至少 4.55 亿美元，用于加强其安全和合规计划。
