Boeing Agrees to Pay $200M in SEC's 737 Investigation

Boeing will pay the federal government $200 million to settle an investigation into statements the company and its chief executive made to investors after two fatal crashes of its 737 Max jetliners. The Securities and Exchange Commission also announced Thursday that Dennis Muilenburg, the former CEO, agreed to pay another $1 million, the Wall Street Journal reports. "In times of crisis and tragedy, it is especially important that public companies and executives provide full, fair, and truthful disclosures to the markets," SEC Chair Gary Gensler in a statement. "The Boeing Company and its former CEO, Dennis Muilenburg, failed in this most basic obligation." Neither Boeing nor Muilenburg commented Thursday.

All 346 people aboard the two planes were killed in the crashes, which took place in October 2018 and March 2019. The 737 Max then was grounded worldwide. Muilenburg's predictions about when regulators would clear the plane to return to service frustrated Boeing's airline customers, as well as Federal Aviation Administration officials, per CNBC. "Boeing and Muilenburg put profits over people by misleading investors about the safety of the 737 Max all in an effort to rehabilitate Boeing's image," said Gurbir Grewal, director of the SEC's enforcement division, per the AP. In January 2021, Boeing agreed to pay $2.5 billion to settle a Justice Department investigation. (More Boeing stories.)