Jamal Thiaré' steals ball from goalkeeper, hits game-winner for Atlanta United

ATLANTA (AP) — Jamal Thiaré stole the ball from the goalkeeper and scored an improbable goal in the final minute of play to lift Atlanta United to a 2-1 victory over Toronto FC on Saturday night.

In the 97th minute, Atlanta's Ronald Hernández had his shot blocked by Toronto FC's Shane O’Neill. Toronto goalkeeper Luka Gavran covered the ball and as he was preparing to put the ball in play, Thiaré′ came up from behind, took the ball and blasted a right-footed shot into the empty net for the winning goal.

Atlanta's other goal came in first-half stoppage time when Thiago Almada passed to Daniel Ríos, took a return pass from Ríos, then beat Gavran with a strong right-footed delivery from the left side.

Toronto got the equalizer in the first minute of the second half when Federico Bernardeschi scored with a left-footed shot from the center of the box. He slipped his shot past three defenders and beat Atlanta goalie Brad Guzan to the left post.

Guzan finished with three saves for Atlanta (6-8-6) and Gavran had four for Toronto (7-11-3), which has lost four straight.

Toronto returns home to host Orlando City on Wednesday. Atlanta United travels to play the New England Revolution on Wednesday.

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Toronto FC defender Nicksoen Gomis (15) moves the ball as Atlanta United defender Noah Cobb, left, defends during the second half of an MLS soccer match, Saturday, June 29, 2024, in Atlanta. Atlanta won 2-1. (AP Photo/Danny Karnik)

Atlanta United forward Jamal Thiaré, left, collides with Toronto FC goalkeeper Luka Gavran, right, during the second half of an MLS soccer match, Saturday, June 29, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Danny Karnik)

Toronto FC midfielder Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty (7) reacts during the first half of an MLS soccer match against Atlanta United, Saturday, June 29, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Danny Karnik)

Toronto FC forward Lorenzo Insigne (24) moves the ball past Atlanta United defender Brooks Lennon, left, during the first half of an MLS soccer match, Saturday, June 29, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Danny Karnik)

Toronto FC midfielder Deybi Flores, left, kicks the ball as Atlanta United midfielder Ajani Fortune (35) defends during the first half of an MLS soccer match, Saturday, June 29, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Danny Karnik)

Toronto FC goalkeeper Luka Gavran, top, makes a save during the second half of an MLS soccer match against Atlanta United, Saturday, June 29, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Danny Karnik)

Atlanta United forward Jamal Thiaré, left, kicks the winning goal past Toronto FC goalkeeper Luka Gavran (90) and midfielder Kosi Thompson, right, during the second half of an MLS soccer match, Saturday, June 29, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Danny Karnik)

Federal prosecutors and victims' families are waiting for Boeing to decide whether to accept a plea deal that would settle a criminal fraud charge accusing the aerospace giant of misleading regulators who approved the 737 Max jetliner before two of the planes crashed.

Relatives of some of the 346 people who died in the October 2018 and March 2019 crashes are furious about the plea offer, which Justice Department prosecutors spelled out in an online meeting with the families and their lawyers on Sunday.

The families want to put Boeing on trial.

“This package offers another opportunity for Boeing to hide their misdeeds from the public,” Ike Riffel, a Californian whose two sons died in the second 737 Max crash, said Monday. “The families are very disappointed, but we vow to fight on.”

Paul Cassell, a former federal judge who is representing some of the victims' families, called it “a sweetheart deal” for Boeing.

Some of the lawyers involved in the case, however, say a plea deal is better than nothing.

“While I personally would have preferred a more vigorous prosecution, a guilty plea to a felony is a serious step up” from a 2021 agreement between Boeing and the Justice Department, said Mark Lindquist, a lawyer who is suing Boeing on behalf of passengers who survived a scary 737 Max inciden t at the beginning of this year.

The Justice Department first charged Boeing with fraud in January 2021 but agreed not to prosecute if the company paid a fine and followed other terms for three years. Then, seven weeks ago, the department said Boeing had violated the deferred prosecution agreement by failing to make changes to detect and prevent future violations of anti-fraud laws. Prosecutors have not publicly disclosed the alleged violations.

Here are some questions being asked about the case.

The Justice Department wants Boeing to plead guilty to a single count of fraud for deceiving the Federal Aviation Administration about new flight-control software for the 737 Max and how much training pilots of older 737 models would need to safely fly the plane. In the 2021 settlement, Boeing blamed the deception on two low-level employees, one of whom was later acquitted after a trial in federal court.

The company isn't saying. Lawyers for the victims' families say the company would be crazy to reject it.

If Boeing takes the deal, it would plead guilty in what likely would be a very short court session. If it turns down the offer, the Justice Department is vowing to take the case to trial, which could expose more details of Boeing's actions while it was asking the FAA to certify the Max.

Boeing “wouldn’t want that bad press and publicity that would come from a trial that would likely involve family members of victims testifying," said Joseph Facciponti, executive director of New York University’s law school program on corporate compliance and enforcement. A judge might also impose a harder sentence if Boeing contested the case and lost, he added.

Yes. The plea and the sentence outlined by the Justice Department, including a $244 million fine and appointment of a monitor to oversee the agreement, would be filed in U.S. District Court in Fort Worth, Texas. If Judge Reed O'Connor accepts the agreement, he could not change the terms approved by Boeing and prosecutors.

If the judge rejects a plea deal, Boeing and the Justice Department could negotiate a new agreement or go to trial.

Lawyers for the families say that if Boeing accepts the plea deal, they will ask O'Connor to reject it.

It would strengthen the hand of victims' families who have not settled their pending lawsuits against the company. It is less clear whether survivors and heirs who already accepted settlements could file new claims.

It would only resolve the fraud charge filed after the two deadly crashes, which took place off the coast of Indonesia and in Ethiopia.

The Justice Department opened another investigation after a panel covering an unused emergency exit blew off a 737 Max during an Alaska Airlines flight in January; the FBI told passengers on that flight they might be victims of a crime. The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration are conducting separate investigations into the blowout and Boeing's manufacturing quality.

Boeing announced Monday that it will pay $4.7 billion in stock to acquire Spirit AeroSystems, which makes fuselages for the 737 Max. Boeing once owned Spirit, and it believes that bringing the supplier back in-house will help it improve quality and ease safety concerns about its planes.

Manufacturing mistakes by suppliers can turn up in finished products. The Alaska Airlines blowout occurred after bolts were not reinstalled following a repair job at Boeing — workers had to fix rivets that were damaged when the fuselage arrived from Spirit — according to a preliminary report by the NTSB.

A criminal conviction can jeopardize a company's standing as a federal contractor, and Boeing is an important one. The company builds planes for the Defense Department and built a space capsule for NASA.

Facciponti, the NYU expert on corporate law, said the plea could be written so that a Boeing subsidiary pleads guilty, allowing the rest of the company to avoid disbarment. However, in many cases agencies have discretion to avoid disbarring companies.

“I don’t think the government wants to lose the ability to contract with Boeing, so there is always the option for government agencies to allow a company that has been convicted of a crime like this to continue doing business with them,” Facciponti said.

The Boeing case also raises questions about deferred prosecution agreements.

Peter Reilly, a law professor at Texas A&M University who has written about them, said DPAs were intended to handle low-level offenses and first-time offenders but are now used in major cases like the 2015 deal with General Motors, which was charged with concealing a deadly problem with ignition switches in small cars. Reilly said Congress should bar DPAs when victims of a corporate crime die.

“People are realizing, wow, this is what happens when Boeing admits to committing a very serious crime and 346 people die?” he said.

Cathy Bussewitz in New York contributed to this report.

FILE - Workers recover debris at the scene of an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing Max plane crash on March 11, 2019, outside of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. U.S. prosecutors and victims' families are waiting for Boeing to decide whether to accept a plea deal that would settle a criminal charge that the aerospace giant misled regulators who approved the 737 Max before two of the jetliners crashed in Ethiopia and Indonesia. (AP Photo/Mulugeta Ayene, File)`

U.S. investigators examine parts recovered from the crash of a Lion Air jet at Tanjung Priok Port in Jakarta, Indonesia, Nov. 1, 2018. Lion Air flight 610, a Boeing 737 Max, crashed minutes after takeoff on Oct. 29, 2018. U.S. prosecutors and victims' families are waiting for Boeing to decide whether to accept a plea deal that would settle a criminal charge that the aerospace giant misled regulators who approved the 737 Max before two of the jetliners crashed in Indonesia and Ethiopia. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana, File)