According to reporting in the Seattle Times, Mr. Forkner faces potential criminal sentences, if convicted, of 20 years per count on the wire fraud counts, and 10 years on each count on the counts alleging fraud with regard to aircraft parts in interstate commerce.
Unsurprisingly, the indictment was returned by a federal grand jury in the jurisdiction of the Northern District of Texas. The same federal district court jurisdiction in which Boeing's plea bargain was entered.
So in the sordid and, at times, shocking saga of the 737 MAX we now receive another invitation for teeing up any of several declarations of over-riding realities by which some sense can be made of what transpired. That Boeing ventured far off course after the McDonnell merger. That corporate governance under capitalism necessarily descends into corruption and betrayal of public interest. That the "system" -- the regulators, the Congressional committees, the other major and significant players in the aviation safety ecosystem -- will make the proper noises, go through the motions, and in the end, nothing of real importance will change. And of course, with one individual bound up and about to be keel-hauled, the unfairness of this saga being loaded onto the shoulders and soul of that one defendant SHOULD invite decrying the lack of -- in today's parlance -- accountability anywhere else where it belongs.
One can hope that good people who have tried to call the shots accurately in the aftermath of the crashes, the revelations, and the corporate machinations by the airframer will yet prevail. That the House Committee, and the FAA Inspector General as well, who did such outstanding work earlier, will sustain and advance their efforts toward accountability. Hope, they say, springs.... But then the Major League team I follow won't be going to the World Series.