Boeing criminal investigation expands

Criminal probe into Boeing widens

"Bad news for a company when the Department of Justice is investigating you in any situation," said Mark Lindquist, an aviation and personal injury attorney based in Tacoma. "In Boeing's case, it is double bad news."

SEATTLE - The U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington has sent subpoenas and is using a grand jury based in Seattle to collect more documents and evidence into the midair door plug blowout on Alaska Airlines flight 1282, per Bloomberg News.

Lindquist currently represents 26 passengers, including a couple with an infant, a mother with her 13-year-old daughter and an unaccompanied minor, who were all on board Alaska Airlines flight 1282 in January.

"Almost all of them, when they hear more news of Boeing's negligence or misconduct, are further traumatized," said Lindquist. "A lot of my clients are still reluctant to get back on a plane."

While Lindquist says none of his clients have been subpoenaed so far, he is familiar with a piece of Boeing's past that may come back to haunt the aviation company in the DOJ investigation.

Lindquist represented multiple families of victims who died on Boeing 737 MAX planes in Indonesia and Ethiopia back in 2018 and 2019.

The deadly crashes led Boeing to enter into a deferred prosecution agreement in 2021.

"One of the conditions is basically you can't get busted doing the same thing again," said Lindquist.