What are the odds this is completely fabricated by Boeing? Not saying I think this, but if it was a movie and this was a cover-up, this would be a great plot twist. I suppose I'm maybe just a little jaded from all the fake news these days.
There's a difference between jaded and cynical :) Not that I know the answer to your question any better. We'll have to wait for the HBO documentary.
To play devil's advocate anyway, as someone who has not been following this actively, I find this article to cement the idea in this reader's mind that a Boeing malfunction is involved in all three incidents. Is this even conclusively established? Would Boeing want this spin at this point?
The suggestion that an extra brain might randomly have averted two multi-fatal crashes and that this error mode has occurred at least three times seems like it would be a bit pyrrhic for the PR people at this juncture, no?