Relatives of those who fell victim to two deadly accidents involving Boeing's 737 Max 8 aircraft model are demanding that the US Department of Justice fines the company over 24 billion dollar, equivalent to approximately 250 billion kronor, and proceeds with prosecution.
This concerns the two plane crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia that occurred in 2018 and 2019, claiming 346 lives in total.
"Since Boeing's crimes are the deadliest corporate crimes in US history, maximum fines of over 24 billion dollar are legally justified and entirely appropriate," writes Paul Cassell, the relatives' lawyer, in a letter to the department.
The demand comes as the company faces increasing scrutiny following several manufacturing and safety issues in recent times. For instance, an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 plane was forced to make an emergency landing on 5 January this year after a door plug came loose.
Last month, the Department of Justice stated that Boeing had breached an agreement that protected the company from prosecution for crimes following the deadly crashes. According to the department, the aerospace giant has failed to implement changes that would prevent violations of federal fraud laws, which the company denied in a statement.
The department will inform the court by 7 July how it will proceed.
On Tuesday, current CEO Dave Calhoun was heard by the Senate, where he apologised to the relatives for the crashes and acknowledged that Boeing is "far from perfect".
