United States v. The Boeing Company

The Boeing Company
Court Docket No.: 4:21-CR-005-O (N.D. Texas)

Latest Update:

On November 6, 2025, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas (the “Court”) issued a decision granting the motion by the U.S. Department of Justice (the “Department” or “Government”) to dismiss the Information (that is, the charge) filed in the case. The Court’s decision (“Dismissal Order”) is included below. The Department filed the motion to dismiss because it reached a non-prosecution agreement (“NPA”) with The Boeing Company (“Boeing”) on May 29, 2025. The NPA is included below.

On November 13, 2025, certain of the families who opposed dismissal filed petitions for a writ of mandamus with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. On November 17, 2025, the Fifth Circuit issued orders, included below, that, among other things, set a briefing schedule. The Department and Boeing must file their responses by December 17, 2025, and the objecting families must file their replies within twenty-one days of when the response briefs are filed. The timing of any argument on the petitions, and a decision on the petitions, will be determined by the Fifth Circuit.

Prior Updates:

On May 23, 2025, the Department filed a status report notifying the Court that the Government reached an agreement in principle with Boeing on the terms of a non-prosecution agreement. The status report, which includes an overview of the material terms of the agreement, is included below.

On May 17, 2025, the Government filed a status report notifying the Court that the Government held a virtual conferral on May 16, 2025, for the representatives of victims of the crashes of Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302. The status report is included below.

On December 5, 2024, the Court rejected the proposed plea agreement the Government and Boeing submitted to the Court on July 24, 2024. The Court issued the opinion after considering briefs submitted to the Court and after hearing argument on October 11, 2024. The Court’s opinion is included below.

On July 7, 2024, the Department filed a status report informing the Court that the Department and Boeing had reached an agreement in principle on the terms of a proposed plea agreement.

On May 14, 2024, the Department notified the Court that the Department determined that Boeing breached its obligations under the Deferred Prosecution Agreement (“DPA”), specifically Paragraphs 21, 22, and 26(d), and Attachment C, including Paragraphs 1, 3, 4, and 5 of that Attachment, by failing to design, implement, and enforce a compliance and ethics program to prevent and detect violations of the U.S. fraud laws throughout its operations. For failing to fulfill completely the terms of and obligations under the DPA, Boeing is subject to prosecution by the Department for any federal criminal violation of which the Department has knowledge, including, but not limited to, the offense described in Paragraph 1 of the DPA and charged in the one-count Criminal Information that accompanied the DPA or violations related to the DPA’s Statement of Facts.

On December 15, 2023, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a decision on the mandamus petitions brought by representatives of victims of the crashes of Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, as well as foreign airline carrier Polskie Linie Lotnicze LOT S.A., pursuant to the CVRA. The Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court’s decision that it “cannot substantively revise the DPA between the Government and Boeing.” But the Fifth Circuit clarified “the courts’ ongoing CVRA responsibility” and how the statute will guide further proceedings in this case before the district court. Specifically, the Fifth Circuit explained that “if judicial approval is sought to resolve the instant case, the district court has an ongoing obligation to uphold the public interest and apply the CVRA.” “More specifically, if the Government concludes, independent of court supervision, that Boeing has not complied with the DPA, the case will instead proceed to trial or to Rule 11 guilty plea resolution, both assuring CVRA victim protection. On the other hand, if the Government assesses that Boeing has complied sufficiently with the DPA’s terms and asks the district court to dismiss criminal proceedings, then, ‘in passing on any government motion under Rule 48(a) . . . the court will expect to see the prosecutor recount that the victim has been consulted on the dismissal and what the victim’s views were on the matter.’” Accordingly, the Fifth Circuit denied the petitions without prejudice to new mandamus petitions being filed again at a later date, observing that the district court “must uphold crime victims’ statutory rights at every stage of the court’s criminal proceedings.” The Fifth Circuit’s opinion is below.

At an arraignment held on January 26, 2023, Boeing entered a plea of not guilty. The Court ordered that Boeing was not to commit another federal, state, or local crime while on release as this case is pending.

On October 21, 2022, the Court issued an order holding that more than a dozen family members and representatives of individuals who died in the two Boeing 737 MAX crashes—Lion Air Flight 610 on October 29, 2018, and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 on March 10, 2019—established that they were directly and proximately harmed by Boeing’s conspiracy to defraud the United States, which the company admitted to in the DPA filed in this matter, and are crime victims under the CVRA. The Order is included below.

The case was initiated in January 2021, when the Department filed a criminal Information simultaneously with the DPA. The Information charged Boeing with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371. The DPA and Information are included below.

Links to Documents and Further Information:

November 17, 2025 Scheduling Orders by Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals
November 6, 2025 Dismissal Order
August 5, 2025 Order re U.S. Visas
July 24, 2025 Order Scheduling Hearing on Motion to Dismiss
July 18, 2025 Order Scheduling Hearing on Motion to Dismiss
June 2, 2025 Order Vacating Trial Date and Pretrial Deadlines
June 1, 2025 Motion to Dismiss Briefing Scheduling Order
May 29, 2025 Non-Prosecution Agreement
May 23, 2025 Status Report
May 17, 2025 Status Report
March 25, 2025 Trial Order
December 5, 2024 Court Order Re Plea Agreement
July 29, 2024 Proposed Plea Agreement
July 15, 2024 Scheduling Order re Proposed Plea Agreement
December 15, 2023 Order by Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals
October 21, 2022 Crime Victims’ Rights Act Order
January 7, 2021 Press Release re Deferred Prosecution Agreement
January 7, 2021 Deferred Prosecution Agreement
January 7, 2021 Criminal Information