Boeing crash victims' families say DOJ set to drop criminal case, decry move as 'morally repugnant'

WASHINGTON -- The US Department of Justice is set to drop a criminal case against aircraft maker Boeing despite the fact that the company agreed to plead guilty last year, according to attorneys for families of victims of two fatal crashes of the 737 Max that led to the case.

The victims' attorneys say they were notified by Justice Department officials Friday morning that it is looking at dropping the case and will instead reach a non-criminal settlement with the company. The new settlement will include an additional $444.5 million into a crash victims' fund that would be divided evenly per crash victim.

The attorneys said the family members are outraged by the decision and that they will object to the decision in court.

SEE ALSO | Boeing reaches last-minute settlement to avoid Chicago civil trial in Ethiopian Airlines crash

"This is morally repugnant. It is a slap on the wrist. And it feels like a bribe," said Sanjiv Singh, an attorney who represents 16 victims in the 2018 crash of a Lion Air Boeing 737 Max.

The Justice Department declined to comment on the statement from the victims' families, and Boeing did not immediately responded to a request for comment Friday.

The Lion Air crash and a second crash of an Ethiopian Airlines flight in March 2019 killed a total of 346 people, and led to fraud charges against Boeing alleging that it deceived the Federal Aviation Administration during the initial certification process for the Max jets.

(The-CNN-Wire & 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.)