(Boursier.com) — Boeing will pay out $200 million to settle civil lawsuits from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The aircraft manufacturer was accused of misleading investors about its 737 MAX, which was grounded for 20 months after two crashes killed 346 people. Boeing knew after the first crash that a flight control system posed a safety concern, but assured the public that the 737 MAX plane was “as safe as anything that has ever flown in the sky”, the company said. SEC in announcing the settlement. The SEC also said former Boeing chief executive Dennis Muilenburg agreed to pay $1 million. Boeing and Muilenburg have neither admitted nor denied the SEC’s findings, the agency said. A fund will also be created for the benefit of aggrieved investors.
“In times of crisis and tragedy, it is especially important that public companies and executives provide full, fair and truthful information to the markets,” SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said in a statement. Boeing and Muilenburg “failed this most basic obligation,” he said. “Boeing and Muilenburg put profits before people by misleading investors about the safety of the 737 MAX in an effort to rehabilitate Boeing’s image following two tragic crashes that left 346 people dead and heartbreak incalculable for so many families,” said Gurbir Grewal, director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement.
In January 2021, Boeing agreed to pay $2.5 billion in fines and compensation to end the Justice Department’s criminal investigation into the 737 MAX crashes.
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