Lawyer of Victims of Boeing 737 Max Crash Calls Deal With US ‘Repugnant’

A lawyer for 16 families of the victims of a fatal Boeing 737 Max crash, has told the BBC that a deal between the aviation giant and the US Justice Department, DOJ, is morally repugnant.

The firm said it agreed to pay US$1.1 billion  to avoid prosecution over two crashes that killed 346 people, in a filing on Wednesday.

Sanjiv Singh, counsel for family members of some of the victims of the 2018 crash in Indonesia, says the deal allows the firm to sidestep true criminal accountability.

The deal includes the company paying US$444.5 million to the families of crash victims.  It will also put US$455 million towards improving its compliance, safety and quality programmes.

Under the deal, Boeing also agreed to pay a criminal penalty of US$487.2 million, although half of that was already paid in 2021.