A federal judge in Texas has cleared the way for Boeing (BA) to avoid criminal prosecution stemming from the two deadly 737 Max crashes, approving a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice that includes $1.1 billion in penalties and victim compensation.
U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor in Fort Worth granted the Justice Department’s motion to dismiss the criminal case and endorsed a non-prosecution agreement reached earlier this year.
The decision ends Boeing’s (BA) years-long legal dispute over a criminal conspiracy charge tied to the 2018 Lion Air Flight 610 and 2019 Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 disasters, which together claimed 346 lives. Investigators determined that both crashes were caused by problems with the aircraft’s automated flight control system.