Boeing plea deal rejected by judge

New York CNN —
A federal judge on Thursday rejected a plea agreement between Boeing and the US government after the company pleaded guilty to deceiving the Federal Aviation Administration ahead of two fatal 737 Max crashes.
The rejection by US District Court Judge Reed O’Connor citied his problems with the selection process for a independent monitor required in the plea deal to oversee safety and quality improvement at Boeing.
Boeing agreed in July to plead guilty to one charge of conspiracy to defraud the United States. Under the plea agreement it would pay up to $487 million in fines — a fraction of the $24.8 billion that families of victims of the two crashes want the company to pay.
The families argued that the amount of the fine amounted to a sweetheart deal for Boeing, letting it off the hook for the two fatal crashes that were caused by a design flaw on the planes. They argue that Boeing’s previous profits on every plane sold would allow for a much larger fine than the one the Justice Department argues it can justify under the plea agreement.
“Rejection of the plea deal is an important victory of the families in this case and, more broadly, crime victims’ interests in the criminal justice process,” said Paul Cassell, attorney for family members of crash victims. “No longer can federal prosecutors and high-powered defense attorney craft backroom deals and just expect judges to approve them. Victims can object – and when they have good reasons for striking a plea, judges will response.”
“Judge O’Connor has recognized that this was a cozy deal between the Government and Boeing that failed to focus on the overriding concerns – holding Boeing accountable for its deadly crime and ensuring that nothing like this happens again in the future,” Cassell added. “This order should lead to a significant renegotiation of the plea deal to reflect the 346 deaths Boeing criminally caused and put in place proper monitoring of Boeing to ensure that it never again commits a crime like this in the future.”
Boeing did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This is a developing story and will be updated.