The airline had told investors after two fatal plane crashes that the 737 MAX posed no risk.
Accused by the US Financial Markets Commissioner (SEC) of publicly issuing multiple messages claiming that the 737 MAX posed no risk following two fatal plane crashes, Boeing on Thursday agreed to pay $200 million. The former general manager of the company Dennis Muilenburg, who was responsible for these reports at the time, agreed to pay a million dollar fine.
It is mainly a problem with the MCAS flight software that nosed a Lion Air 737 MAX in October 2018 and a similar Ethiopian Airlines plane in March 2019 without the pilots being able to locate them. The crashes claimed 346 lives and resulted in a 20-month shutdown of the 737 MAX.
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The SEC specifically criticizes Boeing for issuing a press release, commented and approved by Dennis Muilenburg, one month after the Lion Air disaster, highlighting only certain passages of a report by the Indonesian authorities that suggest the pilot and bad maintenance were to blame. The document also fails to mention an internal assessment that MCAS is in fact “a flight safety issue” and that Boeing has already begun work on modifications to address it. Boeing and Dennis. Muilenburg “have nevertheless assured the public that the 737 MAX+ is as safe as any aircraft that has ever flown in the air+,” the SEC notes in a press release.
Six weeks after the Ethiopian Airlines plane crash, Dennis Muilenburg also told analysts and reporters that there had been “no discrepancies or gaps in the MCAS certification process.” Documents later showed that Boeing already had information to the contrary, the agency noted.
$2.5 billion fine
Boeing had previously admitted in January 2021 that two of its employees had deceived a group at the United States Aviation Authority responsible for preparing pilot training for the MCAS software. The airline giant then agreed to pay more than $2.5 billion to settle certain lawsuits — including a $243.6 million fine, $1.77 billion in compensation to the airlines that ordered the 737 MAX, and 500 Millions for a fund intended to compensate the relatives of the victims. The SEC found that Boeing and Dennis Muilenburg had violated stock exchange laws by misleading investors.
If they had agreed to pay a fine, the group, like the ex-manager, would neither admit nor deny the agency’s conclusions, the press release specifies. “In times of crisis and tragedy, it is especially important that public companies and their managers provide the markets with full, fair and truthful information. The Boeing Company and its former boss Dennis Muilenburg have failed to meet this most fundamental obligation,” SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said in the statement.
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The settlement with the SEC “is part of the company’s broader effort to resolve outstanding legal issues related to the 737 MAX crashes responsibly and in a manner that best serves the interests of our shareholders, employees and other stakeholders,” a Boeing responded -Speaker. The group has made “major and profound changes” since 2019 to “solidify security processes and oversight of security matters,” he added.
A lawyer for the families of the victims of the Ethiopian Airlines crash, Robert Clifford, is calling for further investigations into “Muilenburg or anyone who persuaded the government to allow the Boeing 737 MAX to fly,” calling the behavior “potentially criminal in nature.” .