Ticker: No decision on dropping Boeing criminal case; Buffett will be back, but no questions

The U.S. Justice Department told a federal judge in Texas it hasn’t decided whether to enter into an agreement with Boeing Co. that would drop a criminal charge related to two fatal 737 Max crashes, and that federal prosecutors are giving the families of victims another chance to weigh in.

Government lawyers briefed the families for two hours on Friday on a “possible framework” for a non-prosecution agreement with Boeing, but said no draft agreement has been exchanged between the company and prosecutors, according to a court filing Saturday to U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor, who has been overseeing the long-running criminal proceedings tied to the crashes in 2018 and 2019.

The case is being closely watched as a bellwether for how the Justice Department under President Donald Trump handles high-profile corporate prosecutions. Last year, under the Biden administration, Boeing agreed to plead guilty to criminal conspiracy and pay a fine, but that deal was scrapped by O’Connor, who objected to parts of the agreement. Boeing and the Justice Department have been in talks on a revised agreement.

Buffett will be back, but no questions

Billionaire Warren Buffett plans to attend, but not take questions, at next year’s Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting — a big change following his recent surprise retirement announcement.

Buffett’s handpicked successor, Greg Abel, told the Omaha World-Herald that Berkshire plans a shareholder meeting for the first weekend of May that will have a question-and-answer session.

But Buffett, who plans to remain as Berkshire’s chairman, plans to sit with the conglomerate’s board of directors and not be on stage taking questions.

The annual shareholder meeting attracts some 40,000 people to Omaha in what’s been dubbed “Woodstock for Capitalists.”