A crime first turned to tragedy, now to farce
The $2.5 billion deferred prosecution agreement was heavily criticized because it effectively absolves Boeing management and instead places the entire blame on Forkner and his vice Gustavsson. The deal was negotiated and signed by a Justice Department lawyer named Erin Nealy Cox, a Trump appointee who left her job the day after, two days after Trump groupies stormed the US capitol..
Ms. Cox then joined Kirkland & Ellis, Boeing's lead law firm. She was publicly welcomed there as a partner by Mark Filip, who signed the agreement for Boeing.
The 2.5 billion was looking like a lot only at first glance. The agreement between the Justice Department and Boeing contains an incredible, completely unprecedented whitewashing phrase for the Boeing management:
"the misconduct was neither pervasive across the organization, nor undertaken by a large number of employees, nor facilitated by senior management"
Since DOJ had little time to conduct its own investigation, this is likely based exclusively on Boeing's own statements.
Together with the laughable, unusually low symbolic penalty of $246 million (< 10%, the lion's share of the 2.5 billion concerns compensation payments mainly to airlines and some to victim families negotiated long before), this is a real bargain for Boeing and a slap in the face for the victims' relatives.
Above all, Boeing has thus avoided any admission of guilt as a company, which could have jeopardized future business with the Department of Defense.
Financial times
Seattle times
The next logical act in this farce is now the prosecution of the cheap scapegoat Forkner, who was so stupid to document his behavior in emails and/or who had the bad luck that his vodka-juicy emails were perfectly suited for release by Boeing's IT Department to construct a small, subordinate scapegoat.
All that's left to do now is cross fingers for Forkner's defense and wish them well....
Although, tragically, as Boeing's chief pilot, he had talked Lion Air out of training its pilots on MAX simulators. That was "a difficult and unnecessary training burden for your airline." He boasted that would have saved Boeing "a sick amount of $$$$." Sure he did that without the knowledge and not on behalf of the management.
Boeing gave him the "Service Excellence Award" in September 2016 for persuading the FAA to keep MCAS out of the pilot instructions....
The "new" boss Calhoun claims to this day "off the record" that the accidents would have been prevented by well-trained US pilots.
To quote Max Liebermann, the famous German painter: "I can't eat as much as I would like to vomit".