FBI tells Alaska Airlines passengers they may be ‘victim of a crime’

By Sara Smart and Chris Isidore, CNN

Atlanta (CNN) — Passengers on board the Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 that suffered a terrifying midair blowout in January have received a letter from the FBI saying they may be victims “of a crime.”

Attorney Mark Lindquist, who represents multiple passengers that were on Alaska Airlines flight 1282, shared with CNN the letter that the FBI office in Seattle sent to passengers on Tuesday.

“I’m contacting you because we have identified you as a possible victim of a crime,” the letter reads in part. It also notes that the FBI is currently investigating the case.

“My clients and I welcome the DOJ investigation,” Lindquist told CNN, “We want accountability. We want answers. We want safer Boeing planes. And a DOJ investigation helps advance our goals.”

Attorney Robert Clifford, who represents many family members of the 2019 crash victims of a Boeing 737 Max jet flown by Ethiopian Air as well as some of the recent Alaska Air passengers, said some of his clients on Alaska Air also got the letter notifying them that they could be crime victims.

“I’m certain everyone on the plane will be getting this letter,” he told CNN. “The families of the Ethiopian Air victims should have also been considered crime victims.”

In addition to the letters that went out to passengers, flight attendants aboard Alaska Air Flight 1282 have been interviewed by investigators from the Justice Department, according to people familiar with the situation.

The letters were first reported by the Wall Street Journal earlier this month.

“The FBI does not confirm or deny the existence of an investigation,” FBI Seattle’s Public Affairs Office wrote in an email to CNN, citing Department of Justice policy.

Boeing’s potential criminal liability

But Justice opened a probe into the incident and Boeing in February, CNN has previously reported. That investigation carries the potential to upend a controversial deferred prosecution agreement that Boeing reached with the Justice Department in the final month of the Trump administration.

Tha settlement, which was criticized by families of crash victims and members of Congress, was over charges that Boeing defrauded the Federal Aviation Administration during the original certification process for the 737 Max jets. Boeing agreed to pay $2.5 billion as part of that settlement, but most of that was money Boeing had already agreed to pay to the airlines that had purchased the Max jets grounded for 20 months following the Ethiopian Air crash and an earlier crash in Indonesia.

The deferred prosecution agreement could have ended the threat of Boeing facing criminal liability for those earlier fraud charges. But the Alaska Air incident came just days before a three-year probation-like period was due to end, so the criminal probe could expose Boeing to charges not just for the Alaska Air incident but also the earlier allegations of criminal wrongdoing.

Boeing declined to comment.

On January 5, 171 passengers and six crew members boarded the flight in Portland, Oregon, bound for Ontario, California. Abruptly after take off, a panel of the fuselage called the “door plug” blew off, forcing the pilots to make an emergency landing.

A preliminary investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board found that the jet, which was delivered to Alaska by Boeing in October, had left Boeing’s factory without the four bolts needed to keep the door plug in place.

While the NTSB has yet to assess blame for the missing bolts, it has criticized Boeing for not having the documentation available showing who worked on the door plug when the plane was at Boeing’s factory.

The FAA has also found multiple problems with production practices of both Boeing and its major supplier Spirit AeroSystems following a six-week audit of Boeing triggered by the January 5 door plug blowout.

Subpoenas from the Justice Department were also recently sent seeking documents and information that may be related to Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems and mentions the “door plug” that is used in the Boeing 737 Max 9s, according to a report from Bloomberg.

Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun told investors last month that “We caused the problem, and we understand that. Whatever conclusions are reached, Boeing is accountable for what happened.”

The development comes the same week Boeing said it will report massive losses in the first quarter stemming from the Alaska Airlines incident.

The losses will be in part because of compensation to airlines that owned the Max 9, which was grounded for three weeks after the incident. Alaska Air CEO Ben Minicucci told investors last month that the incident cost his airline about $150 million, and that it expected to be compensated for those losses by Boeing.

The other contributors to losses will be “all the things we’re doing around the factory,” Chief Financial Officer Brian West said on Wednesday, leading to slower production at its 737 Max plant in Renton Washington.

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