Boeing will not face a criminal conspiracy charge over two 737 Max jetliner crashes that killed 346 people after a federal judge in Texas on Thursday granted the government’s request to dismiss the case.

As part of a deal to drop the charge, the American aerospace company has agreed to pay or invest an additional US$1.1 billion in fines, compensation for the crash victims’ families, and internal safety and quality measures.

Prosecutors alleged Boeing deceived government regulators about a flight-control system that was later implicated in the fatal flights. The ruling comes after an emotional hearing in September when relatives of some of the victims urged U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor to reject the deal and instead appoint a special prosecutor to take over the case.

However, in

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