A former top technical pilot of Boeing was indicted on Thursday on charges that he deceived federal aviation officials about the Max 737 plane, which was later involved in two crashes that killed more than 340 people.
Mark A. Forkner, 49, was charged by a federal grand jury with fraud and wire fraud, the Justice Department said.
Forkner is accused of deluded the Federal Aviation Administration, which was testing the new jet, particularly regarding its Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS.
In an attempt to save Boeing Money, Chad E. Meacham allegedly withheld critical information from regulators in a statement. Forkner, acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, said it in a report.
Two of the 737 Max aircraft crashed later : Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 in Indonesia and Lion Air Flight 610 in Indonesia in 2018. The Max jets were grounded in the United States and around the world.
According to the indictment, the FAA had been told that the MCAS would operate at high speeds.
Forkner later learned it was operating at a lower speed, similar to the ones on takeoff and landing, but withheld the information from FAA, according to the indictment.
Prosecutors said the deception meant that an FAA document did not reference the system, and neither did airplane manuals and pilot training materials. The change to the MCAS was discovered after the deadly crashes.
On Thursday, Forkner did not appear to show the case or an attorney who represented him online. An attorney who has reportedly represented him did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The FAA was admitted and charged that two of its flight technical pilots lied about the flight system to Boeing. The company agreed in January to settle the criminal case with $2.5 billion as financial compensation.
Forkner was charged with two counts of wire fraud in interstate commerce and four counts of fraud involving aircraft parts. The aircraft-related fraud counts carry up to 20 years in prison each. He is expected to appear in a federal court in Texas on Friday.
The 737 Max was recertified, and the first U.S. commercial flight occurred in December 2020.