Families who lost loved ones in two Boeing crashes six years ago received a letter from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on May 29, 2025, that the government agency has filed a motion to dismiss the criminal fraud matter against Boeing. Instead, the DOJ told the families it filed a non-prosecution agreement (NPA) against the aircraft manufacturer and does not intend to proceed with a criminal fraud trial against Boeing regarding two crashes of the 737 MAX8 aircraft six years ago killing 346 people. The DOJ said it was informing them of its actions as crime victims under the federal Crime Victims’ Rights Act.
Families, who are represented by pro bono lawyer, Paul Cassell, professor of the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah, have informed U.S. District Court Judge Reed O’Connor in Texas that they intend to object to the DOJ’s motion.
Robert Clifford, founder and senior partner of Clifford Law Offices and Lead Counsel in the civil litigation against Boeing in the Ethiopian crash, said, “The action formalizing the nonprosecution agreement between the government and the Boeing Corporation is a dark reminder about how the rich and powerful can influence government to the detriment and injustice of working men and women around this country. Aviation safety is compromised by this agreement. The skies are less safe today because the Department of Justice has ignored criminal conduct causing the needless deaths of 346 people.”
“The motion to dismiss confirms what we have suspected all along,” said Sanjiv Singh, attorney for 16 Lion Air families who lost loved ones in the first Boeing 737 MAX8 crash in 2018. “The non-prosecution agreement and its advocates do not seem to be focused on justice or victims’ rights, but rather on what is politically expedient. The monetary amounts they cite, and the threadbare corrective measures, are at best scratching the surface of accountability.”
Nadia Milleron whose 24-year-old daughter Samya Rose Stumo was killed in the second crash five months later, said, “The DOJ has issued a motion filled with doublespeak. The following statement in the motion is false: ‘secures meaningful accountability, delivers substantial and immediate public benefits, and brings finality to a difficult and complex case whose outcome would otherwise be uncertain.’ There will be no accountability as a result of the NPA because the DOJ is asking that the charges be dismissed and no one will be held to account. Because no one is being held accountable, Boeing executives will not change their behavior and will continue to produce faulty planes, as they are doing today and continue to risk the lives of the public. We don’t need to dismiss the charges to ask the judge to award compensation to families who were cheated out of their compensation. This is not a difficult or complex case because Boeing signed a confession. So the trial outcome would be assured.”
Chris Moore lost his daughter Danielle in the Ethiopian crash and said, “The Department of Justice is trying to sweep the errors and mistakes of Boeing and the FAA under the rug. It is said that Justice is supposed to be blind for it to be fair, but the prosecutors are blind to the facts of this case. Boeing has already admitted their criminality – it’s a no-brainer in terms of prosecuting Boeing in a court of Law. it’s been reported that the DoJ has been conducting its work as a clearinghouse of prosecution by affecting prosecution agreements to efficiently closing cases. Well, they tried that here and it didn’t work. The DoJ should look at its seal and get a sense of its purpose: do the right thing and prosecute Boeing the conservative old-fashioned way by having Boeing defend their actions and inactions in court.”
Since Feb. 6, families have been asking for a meeting with U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi before the DOJ made a final decision, but they have not heard back from her to date. Boeing’s CEO and its lawyer admitted to the fraud in a guilty plea months ago.
Javier de Luis, who lost his sister in the second crash in Ethiopia in 2019, said, “None of the reasons given by the DOJ for pursing this agreement are true: it does not provide accountability, since no one is held criminally responsible and the fine amounts can be considered as just the cost of doing business. It provides no public benefits in the form of safer airplanes. Five years after the deadly crashes a door fell off a Boeing airplane. If Boeing didn’t fix its problems in the five years since my sister’s death, what makes the DOJ think that it will do so under this agreement? And finally, while the DOJ thinks the outcome of pursuing this trial would be uncertain, they have in fact a signed statement from the Boeing CEO admitting to all the facts in this case. What more do they need to secure a conviction?”
The DOJ announced that instead of proceeding with the criminal trial scheduled for June 23 in federal district court in the case against Boeing defrauding the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regarding the certification of two 737 MAX8 jets that crashed within five months, it will instead recommend to the judge a non-prosecution agreement (NPA). The families are asking that DOJ attorneys take the case to trial in the interest of public safety.
“This kind of non-prosecution deal is unprecedented and obviously wrong for the deadliest corporate crime in U.S. history. My families will object and hope to convince the court to reject it,” Cassell said.
For further information, contact Clifford Law Offices Communications Partner Pamela Sakowicz Menaker at 847-721-0909 (cell) or email at Pammenaker@cliffordlaw.com.