The Globe and Mail reports in its Monday edition that the U.S. Department of Justice will criminally charge Boeing with fraud over two fatal crashes and ask it to plead guilty or face trial, according to inside sources. A Reuters dispatch to The Globe says the Justice Department planned to formally offer a plea agreement to Boeing yesterday, which includes a financial penalty and imposition of an independent monitor to audit the company's safety and compliance practices for three years. Justice Department officials plan to give Boeing until the end of the week to respond to the offer, which they will present as non-negotiable. Should Boeing refuse to plead guilty, prosecutors plan to take the company to trial. The Justice Department decided to charge Boeing after finding it violated a 2021 agreement that had shielded it from prosecution over the fatal crashes involving 737 Max jets. The deadly crashes took place in 2018 and 2019, killing 346 people. The decision to move toward criminally charging Boeing deepens a continuing crisis engulfing the plane maker, exposing the company to additional financial ramifications and tougher government oversight. A guilty plea could harm Boeing's ability to win government contracts.