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Comment by xcv123 | Hacker News Reader

In China the CEO would be executed by firing squad.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanlu_Group

"On 22 January 2009, Tian was sentenced to life imprisonment, while other Sanlu executives received sentences of five to fifteen years. Two other men were sentenced to death"

Changsheng Biotech Vaccine Scandal (2018): The chairwoman of Changsheng Biotech, Gao Junfang, was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Kanghui Pharmaceutical Case (2007): The general manager, Ni Chunlin, was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Qiqihar No. 2 Pharmaceutical Case (2006): The factory director received a 7-year prison sentence.

Shanghai Hualian Pharmaceutical Case (2007): Two executives were sentenced to death (later commuted to life imprisonment).

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Those are much more serious cases though.

They aren't death sentences due to messing up airplanes due to mismanagement or cost cutting, but actually poisoning people on a mass scale or knowingly making bad drugs.

It's not comparable. Those things are more like the Sackler opioid case.

It is comparable. Boeing intentionally and criminally withheld information from regulators. They knew that MCAS would not be approved by regulators, intentionally ignored safety and quality concerns, then released it to the public. It was a criminal act which caused the death of hundreds of people and destroyed the reputation of the largest exporter in the US. If the equivalent happened in China there would be severe consequences. The CCP would not tolerate losing the reputation of their largest export industry. China is run by the CCP, not company executives. The executives would be thrown under the bus without hesitation.

I suppose I shouldn't have said 'not comparable' because everything is comparable, but I still think what the Chinese nationals did to get life terms and executions was much more severe criminality.

A couple of hundreds dead due to bad engineering is better than outright poisoning people by substitutions or killing people on a mass scale with bad drugs.

> A couple of hundreds dead due to bad engineering

In the Chinese cases I mentioned, the executives did not personally kill people. They only committed fraud, which put millions at risk of death when using their inferior products, which is comparable to what Boeing did.

The executives intentionally and knowingly committed fraud, which put anyone at risk when they fly in a 737 Max (millions of people per year). It was not the engineers fault. The engineers and quality inspectors concerns were ignored by management. The executives prioritized stock price over safety. I am not exaggerating when I say the executives committed fraud. That is the view of federal prosecutors.

In total 346 people died, and there would have been more deaths if the entire global fleet were not grounded for several years by international regulators. It's not just the Max. Anyone who flies in any Boeing aircraft is at risk if the company is committing fraud at this scale.

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