• Boeing has agreed to plead guilty to “conspiracy to defraud the United States” in the certification of 737 MAX aircraft.

• This would allow Boeing to avoid further investigation by the Justice Department and pay a $243.6 million fine.

• The deal follows a finding by the Justice Department last May that Boeing had violated a 2021 agreement that had protected the company from prosecution.

• If the agreement goes through, the company would be convicted of a serious crime and would have to invest at least $455 million over the next three years to improve its safety and compliance programs.