March 29, 2022
https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/boeing-technical-pilot-acquitted-on-9591517/
The Department of Justice criminal prosecution of Mark Forkner,
chief technical pilot at Boeing responsible for the 737 Max,
ended in quick acquittal.
DOJ prosecutors suffered an embarrassing loss in an attempt
to hold Forkner responsible for misleading FAA officials on the training
level required for pilots flying the 737 MAX.
DOJ’s loss ends its prosecutions stemming from the Boeing
737 Max fraud scandal.
In yet another lesson for DOJ prosecutors,
the jury’s rejection of the prosecution reflected a fundamental failure
in DOJ’s targeting a relatively mid-level employee while allowing
senior officers and board members to escape accountability.
DOJ has been criticized for its relatively light touch in prosecuting
Boeing as an organization and failing to pursue charges against
higher-level officials.
Boeing paid a criminal fine of $2.5 billion to settle fraud charges.
The jury’s 90 minute deliberations resulting in an acquittal reflects
a rejection of DOJ’s decision and overall tactics and its efforts to shield
the Boeing board in lieu of their 2.5 billion dollar payment to the DOJ
Juries often bring justice to deliberations and verdicts.
In the Boeing case, the jurors saw through the government’s lack of fairness
Boeing officials were not charged –
only a chief technical pilot was held accountable.
The fundamental flaw in this approach is that even assuming that
Forkner engaged in misconduct, his actions or failures to act occurred
in the context of an organization with colleagues, supervisors and other
senior officials ultimately responsible for Boeing’s actions.
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