US prosecutors want Boeing to face criminal charges, report says

US prosecutors have recommended that the Justice Department (DOJ) brings criminal charges against Boeing, according to the BBC’s US partner CBS.

It comes after the DOJ said the plane maker had violated a settlement related to two fatal crashes involving its 737 Max aircraft, which the firm denied.

Boeing declined to comment when contacted by the BBC about the prosecutors’ recommendation.

The DOJ did not immediately respond to a BBC request for comment.

The recommendation is not a final decision and the details of any potential criminal action were not known, CBS said.

News of the recommended charges was first reported by the Reuters news agency.

The DOJ has until 7 July to make a final decision on whether to prosecute Boeing.

The crashes – one in Indonesia in 2018 and another in Ethiopia in 2019 – killed a total of 346 people.

Last week, relatives of the victims urged prosecutors to seek a fine against Boeing of $25bn (£14.6bn) and pursue a criminal prosecution.

Under a deal reached in 2021, Boeing agreed to pay a $2.5bn settlement, while prosecutors agreed to ask the court to drop a criminal charge after a period of three years.

Last month, the DOJ said Boeing was in breach of the deal saying it had failed to “design, implement, and enforce a compliance and ethics program to prevent and detect violations of the US fraud laws throughout its operations.”