EVERETT, Wash. — Several news outlets, beginning with Bloomberg News, reported this week that the Department of Justice (DOJ) is examining Boeing's conduct leading up to and during the door plug blowout to see if any of its actions violate the terms of a 2021 agreement.
KING 5 reached out to the Justice Department to confirm the report, but did not hear back by the time of this publishing; a Boeing spokesperson said it was not commenting on the DOJ news.
The 2021 agreement was made between the DOJ and Boeing following accusations of conspiracy to defraud the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
According to a news release, Boeing employees "deceived the FAA [group] about an important aircraft part" and "because of their deception, a key document...lacked information...and in turn, airplane manuals and pilot-training materials for US-based airlines lacked information about [it]." The events preceded deadly crashes on board Lion Air Flight 610 in 2018 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302.
The DOJ investigated and ultimately entered a "deferred prosecution agreement" with Boeing. Under the agreement, Boeing would pay $2.5 billion toward fines, compensation payments to airline customers and a crash-victim beneficiaries fund. It would also strengthen its compliance program, agree to enhanced compliance program reporting requirements and continue to cooperate with fraud investigators in future proceedings.
If the agreement was violated, the company could face prosecution. At this point, however, the Justice Department has not confirmed any violations. Investigators will only be examining the door plug incident, according to reports.
Meanwhile, the FAA has given Boeing 90 days to develop a plan to address "systemic quality control issues" at the company.