A US federal judge on Thursday rejected plane giant Boeing’s agreement to plead guilty to fraud after two fatal crashes of its 737 Max passenger jets, faulting a diversity and inclusion provision in the deal regarding the selection of an independent monitor to audit the company’s compliance practices.
Boeing and the US justice department now have 30 days to update the court on how they plan to proceed in the case, Judge Reed C O’Connor of the northern district of Texas ordered.
Spokespeople for Boeing and the DoJ did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
Relatives of the victims of the two 737 Max crashes, which occurred in 2018 and 2019 and killed 346 people, have called the agreement a “sweetheart” deal that failed to adequately hold Boeing accountable for the deaths of their loved ones.
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