Last updated March 31, 2026
The two deadly 737 MAX crashes that killed 346 people and devastated Boeing's reputation.
Dateline
United States
Editorial note
Compiled by After the Headline from public reporting, court filings, official records, and the sources cited below.
Current status
Boeing's proposed guilty-plea deal unraveled, the Justice Department later moved to dismiss the criminal fraud case, and in March 2026 a federal appeals court upheld the dismissal. Separately, FAA penalties and safety-related scrutiny continued, but the criminal case over the MAX crashes was effectively dead.
Boeing's proposed guilty-plea deal unraveled, the Justice Department later moved to dismiss the criminal fraud case, and in March 2026 a federal appeals court upheld the dismissal. Separately, FAA penalties and safety-related scrutiny continued, but the criminal case over the MAX crashes was effectively dead.
People remember the crashes and the grounding, but not that Boeing ultimately avoided a criminal trial and the case was dismissed after years of negotiation and reversal.
Deep dive
The details most readers never saw once the original coverage cycle moved on.
The MAX story is usually remembered as a design and safety scandal. The criminal follow-up is less widely understood. Boeing had reached a deal to plead guilty to fraud conspiracy, but that agreement hit resistance in court, was reworked, and then effectively fell apart. By March 2025, a judge had even set a June trial date while Boeing and the DOJ kept negotiating. Then the government reversed course and sought dismissal. In March 2026, a federal appeals court upheld the lower court's decision to let the DOJ dismiss the case, despite objections from some victims' families. So one of the most consequential corporate scandals of the era ended without the criminal trial many people expected. That's a huge gap between public assumption and legal reality.
Timeline
The sequence of major developments, ordered from newest to oldest.
Update
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