Boeing Co. directors, including current Chief Executive Officer David Calhoun, lied about the company’s oversight of its 737 Max 8 airliner and participated in a misleading public-relations campaign following two fatal crashes involving the plane, shareholders claim.
The board ignored red flags about the 737 Max, didn’t develop its own tools to evaluate safety and didn’t properly hold former chief executive officer Dennis Muilenburg accountable for launching a lobbying and public-relations effort to push back against criticism of the plane’s design flaws, according to recently unsealed court filings.
“Prior to the grounding of the 737 Max, the board failed to undertake its own evaluation of the safety of keeping the 737 Max aloft,” investors said in an amended Delaware Chancery Court complaint that was made public Feb. 5. The board then “compounded its lack of oversight by publicly lying about it.”