The U.S. Justice Department says Boeing breached its obligations from a 2021 agreement that shielded the embattled corporation from criminal prosecution from two fatal 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people.
In a filing in federal court in Texas, the DOJ said Boeing failed to make changes to prevent it from violating federal anti-fraud laws.
The changes were a condition of the deferred prosecution agreement that the airline manufacturer agreed to in 2021.
The DOJ said Boeing broke the agreement by "failing to design, implement, and enforce a compliance and ethics program to prevent and detect violations of the U.S. fraud laws throughout its operations."
The ruling means Boeing could face prosecution "for any federal criminal violation of which the United States has knowledge."
Prior to the agreement, the DOJ conducted a two-year probe into whether Boeing had concealed information about its 737 Max aircraft.
In 2021, Boeing agreed to pay $2.5 billion to resolve a criminal investigation into the company's conduct surrounding the fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia.
In Oct. 2018, Indonesia's Lion Air flight 610, which was a Boeing 737 MAX 8 jet, plunged into the Java Sea, killing all 189 people on board.
Similarly, 157 passengers died from the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 crash in March 2019.
In the agreement, Boeing promised to compensate victims' relatives and overhaul its compliance practices.