It was a harrowing ordeal last month for passengers on an Alaska Air flight when a door plug blew out mid-flight. An investigation revealed the door plug on the Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft had been missing four crucial bolts meant to hold it in place.
Now a new report reveals the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has gotten involved in the investigation to determine whether or not criminal charges will need to be filed.
The reason? The DOJ and Boeing entered into a deferred-prosecution agreement in a 2021 case that investigated two fatal crashes of the company’s 737 Max jetliner, according to a report published by Bloomberg Law.
If the faulty door on the Alaska Air flight is deemed to be a breach of that agreement, it could trigger criminal liability for Boeing.
The new report of the DOJ’s involvement in the case had an adverse effect on the company’s stock value Wednesday morning, with Boeing dropping 0.6% in premarket U.S. trading.
Boeing’s market value overall has dropped a total of 21% since the January 5 Alaska Air incident, and the timing of the incident could scarcely have been worse: Boeing’s deferred-prosecution agreement with the DOJ was set to expire just two days later on January 7, according to the Bloomberg Law report.