Boeing will plead guilty to a criminal fraud charge stemming from two crashes of 737 Max jetliners that killed 346 people after the government determined the company violated an agreement that had protected it from prosecution for more than three years, the Justice Department said Sunday night. The aerospace giant then confirmed that it had agreed to the deal.

Federal prosecutors gave Boeing the choice last week of entering a guilty plea and paying a fine as part of its sentence or facing a trial on the felony criminal charge of conspiracy to defraud the United States.

Prosecutors accused the American aerospace giant of deceiving regulators who approved the airplane and pilot-training requirements for it.

The plea deal, which still must receive the approval of a federal judge to take effect, calls for Boeing to pay an additional $243.6 million fine. That was the same amount it paid under the 2021 settlement that the Justice Department said the company breached. An independent monitor would be named to oversee Boeing’s safety and quality procedures for three years. The deal also requires Boeing to invest at least $455 million in its compliance and safety programs.

The plea deal covers only wrongdoing by Boeing before the crashes, which killed all 346 passengers and crew members aboard two new Max jets. It does not give Boeing immunity for other incidents, including a panel that blew off a Max jetliner during an Alaska Airlines flight in January, a Justice Department official said.

The deal also does not cover any current or former Boeing officials, only the corporation. In a statement, Boeing confirmed it had reached the deal with the Justice Department but had no further comment.

In a court filing Sunday night, the Justice Department said it expected to file the written plea agreement with the court by July 19. Lawyers for some of the relatives of those who died in the two crashes have said they will ask the judge to reject the agreement.

“This sweetheart deal fails to recognize that because of Boeing’s conspiracy, 346 people died. Through crafty lawyering between Boeing and DOJ, the deadly consequences of Boeing’s crime are being hidden,” said Paul Cassell, a lawyer for some of the families.

Federal prosecutors alleged Boeing committed conspiracy to defraud the government by misleading regulators about a flight-control system that was implicated in the crashes, which took place in Indonesia in October 2018 and in Ethiopia less five months later.

As part of the January 2021 settlement, the Justice Department said it would not prosecute Boeing on the charge if the company complied with certain conditions for three years. Prosecutors last month alleged Boeing had breached the terms of that agreement.

The company’s guilty plea will be entered in U.S. District Court in Texas. The judge overseeing the case, who has criticized what he called “Boeing’s egregious criminal conduct,” could accept the plea and the sentence that prosecutors offered with it or he could reject the agreement, likely leading to new negotiations between the Justice Department and Boeing.

Relatives of the people who died in the crashes were briefed on the plea offer a week ago and at the time said they would ask the judge to reject it.

U.S. agencies can use a criminal conviction as grounds to exclude companies from doing business with the government for a set amount of time. Boeing is an important contractor of the Defense Department and NASA.

The case goes back to the crashes in Indonesia and in Ethiopia. The Lion Air pilots in the first crash did not know about flight-control software that could push the nose of the plane down without their input. The pilots for Ethiopian Airlines knew about it but were unable to control the plane when the software activated based on information from a faulty sensor.

The Justice Department charged Boeing in 2021 with deceiving FAA regulators about the software, which did not exist in older 737s, and about how much training pilots would need to fly the plane safely. The department agreed not to prosecute Boeing at the time, however, if the company paid a $2.5 billion settlement, including the $243.6 million fine, and took steps to comply with anti-fraud laws for three years.

Boeing, which blamed two low-level employees for misleading the regulators, tried to put the crashes behind it. After grounding Max jets for 20 months, regulators let them fly again after the Boeing reduced the power of the flight software. Max jets logged thousands of safe flights and orders from airlines picked up, increasing to about 750 in 2021, about 700 more in 2022 and nearly 1,000 in 2023.

The company based in Arlington, Virginia, has dozens of airline customers spanning the globe. The best customers for the 737 Max include Southwest, United, American, Alaska, Ryanair and flydubai.

That changed in January, when a panel covering an unused emergency exit blew off a Max during the Alaska Airlines flight over Oregon.

Pilots landed the 737 Max safely and no one was seriously injured, but the incident led to closer scrutiny of the company. The Justice Department opened a new investigation, the FBI told passengers on the Alaska plane that they might be victims of a crime and the FAA said it was stepping up oversight of Boeing.

A criminal conviction could jeopardize Boeing’s status as a federal contractor, according to some legal experts. The plea announced Sunday does not address that question, leaving it to each government agency whether to bar Boeing.

The Air Force cited “compelling national interest” in letting Boeing continue competing for contracts after the company paid a $615 million fine in 2006 to settle criminal and civil charges, including that it used information stolen from a rival to win a space-launch contract.

The company has 170,000 employees and 37% of its revenue last year came from U.S. government contracts. Most of it was defense work, including military sales that Washington arranged for other countries.

Even some Boeing critics have worried about crippling a key defense contractor.

“We want Boeing to succeed,” Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, said during a Senate hearing last month on what he termed the company’s broken safety culture. “Boeing needs to succeed for the sake of the jobs it provides, for the sake of local economies it supports, for the sake of the American traveling public, for the sake of our military.”

Relatives of the Indonesia and Ethiopia crash victims have pushed for a criminal trial that might illuminate what people inside Boeing knew about deceiving the FAA. They also wanted the Justice Department to prosecute top Boeing officials, not just the company.

“Boeing has paid fines many a time, and it doesn’t seem to make any change,” said Ike Riffel of Redding, California, whose sons Melvin and Bennett died in the Ethiopian Airlines crash. “When people start going to prison, that’s when you are going to see a change.”

At a recent Senate hearing, Boeing CEO David Calhoun defended the company’s safety record after turning and apologizing to Max crash victims’ relatives seated in the rows behind him “for the grief that we have caused.”

Hours before the hearing, the Senate investigations subcommittee released a 204-page report with new allegations from a whistleblower who said he worried that defective parts could be going into 737s. The whistleblower was the latest in a string of current and former Boeing employees who have raised safety concerns about the company and claimed they faced retaliation as a result.

Firefighters are continuing an uphill battle in Santa Barbara County, where the Lake Fire swelled to more than 16,000 acres over the weekend. 

The blaze was first reported on Friday at around 3:45 p.m. near Zaca Lake and Saint Lucia Road, according to Cal Fire. 

After more than 48 hours, the fire has consumed 16,452 acres and remains just 8% contained with more than 600 firefighters currently engaged in the firefight. On top of ground units, 10 helicopters and numerous other water-dropping aircraft are assisting with the ongoing suppression efforts. 

Not only are they dealing with exceedingly dry conditions, crews are also forced to work with the sweltering heat wave that has swathed most of Southern California in triple degree temperatures over the weekend. 

So far one structure has been damaged and one injury has been reported, Cal Fire said. Among the homes threatened by the rapidly spreading flames is Michael Jackson’s former residence, the famed Neverland Ranch, located in the 5000 block of Figueroa Mountain Road. He owned the 2,700-acre property from 1988 until his death in 2009.

An evacuation order was issued late Saturday evening for Figueroa Mountain Road to Sawmill Basin, including Tunnel Road and the Figueroa Campground. 

Additionally, evacuation warnings have also been issued for Figueroa Mountain Road to Chamberlin Ranch and Zaca Lake Road, Foxen Canyon Road and the area south of the Sisquoc River, firefighters said. 

It remains unclear what sparked the massive fire, which is now the second largest reported in California since the start of 2024.  

The Lake Fire is one of several large wildfires currently burning in California. The Thompson Fire, currently raging in Butte County near Chico, has torched more than a dozen homes, while the Basin Fire near Fresno has engulfed more than 14,000 acres.