Boeing accepts a plea deal to avoid a criminal trial over 737 Max crashes, Justice Department says

The Justice Department says Boeing has agreed to plead guilty to a criminal fraud charge stemming from two deadly crashes of 737 Max jetliners. Now it’s up to a federal judge whether to accept the plea and a sentence that is part of the aerospace giant’s deal with U.S. prosecutors. Boeing’s decision on Sunday came a week after the Justice Department gave the company the choice of entering a guilty plea or facing a trial. Prosecutors say Boeing violated a 2021 deal that had shielded the company from prosecution earlier. They allege Boeing committed fraud by misleading regulators about a flight-control system that was implicated in Max crashes that killed 346 people.