Boeing will pay $200 million to settle allegations that it misled investors, and former Boeing chief Dennis Muilenburg has agreed to pay $1 million. “In times of crisis and tragedy, it is especially important that public companies and executives provide full, fair and honest disclosures to the markets. The Boeing Company and its former CEO, Dennis Muilenburg, have failed in this most basic obligation,” said Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler. The two fatal 737 Max jets claimed the lives of 346 people, led to the grounding of the Max fleet and worldwide searches. The Capital Market Commission is investigating statements made by the company and its former CEO. Boeing investors lost billions after the crashes, and the SEC is tasked with enforcing rules that force companies to disclose information that could affect their stock price. The two crashes, a Lion Air flight that crashed into the sea off Jakarta and an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa, happened within four months of each other and involved a flight control function called the Maneuvering Characteristic Augmentation System (MCAS). According to the SEC, after the first crash, Boeing and Muilenburg knew that MCAS “raised an ongoing safety issue for the airplane, but they nevertheless assured the public that the 737 Max airplane was “as safe as any airplane that has ever flown in the sky”. Later, after the second accident, Boeing and Muilenburg assured the public that there were no slips or gaps in the certification process with respect to MCAS, despite knowing information to the contrary.” “There are no words to describe the tragic loss of life caused by these two plane crashes,” Gensler said. In 2021 Boeing was fined $2.5 billion by the Justice Department after being charged with fraud and conspiracy in connection with the two accidents. Investigators alleged that a former Boeing pilot misled aviation safety regulators about how the Max’s flight control system worked. US authorities said the company had “engaged in an attempt to cover up its deception” and had chosen “the path of profit over honesty by withholding material information” from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the United States’ top airline regulator. USA. Boeing said it has made “broad and profound changes across our company in response to these accidents” to improve safety and quality, the Associated Press reported. “Today’s settlement is part of the company’s broader effort to responsibly resolve outstanding legal issues related to the 737 Max accidents in a manner that serves the best interests of our shareholders, employees and other stakeholders,” the Arlington-based company said in a statement. of Virginia. Boeing was not immediately available for comment.
