Families Who Lost Loved Ones in Boeing Crash Make Victim Impact Statements Today at Federal Court Hearing on Criminal Case Against Aircraft Manufacturer

Families who lost loved ones in the 2019 crashes of two Boeing 737 MAX8 jets told a federal judge in Fort Worth, Texas, this morning, Wednesday, September 3, 2025, that the new U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) non-prosecution agreement (NPA) it reached with the aircraft manufacturer was unjust and asked the court for accountability.

The families and their lawyer, Paul Cassell, professor of the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah, told U.S. District Court Judge Reed O’Connor that the new NPA violates the judicial review provisions of the federal rules by preemptively agreeing not to prosecute Boeing even before Judge O’Connor has ruled on the previous NPA motion to dismiss. Judge O’Connor said following the three-hour hearing that he would rule in “due course.”

Family members came from as far away as France, Ireland, and Canada to ask the Judge to reject the DOJ agreement it reached with Boeing not to prosecute the aircraft manufacturer for criminal fraud. The families were found to be crime victims under the federal Crime Victims’ Rights Act.

Ike and Susan Riffel of Redding, California, who lost their two sons, Melvin and Benjamin, were in attendance at the hearing. Ike said, “I hold no animosity toward anybody in this courtroom, but I am very disappointed with the DOJ’s handling of this case. I know that I will never see my sons again on this earth. But my hope is that we can find truth, justice, and accountability for them and 344 other souls that perished in these horrific and preventable tragedies.” The father of two, one whose wife was nine months pregnant with their granddaughter, who never got to see her father because of the crash, went on to say, “This NPA is a travesty of justice. Behind the curtain of this NPA hides the truth, and without truth, there can be no justice. The number one fundamental obligation of the DOJ is to uphold the rule of law in an impartial and ethical manner; they have failed miserably.”

Catherine Berthet lost her daughter, Camille, in the crash. She attended the hearing with her son, who was 16 years old at the time of his sister’s death. Catherine said, “Your Honor, what offends me most is that Boeing and the Department of Justice want to reduce this to money. But this is a criminal case. Civil compensation is not enough. If money alone could replace punishment, our justice system would have no need for trials, no need for accountability.”

Javier de Luis of Massachusetts, an aerospace engineer with a PhD in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT, where he is a lecturer, lost his sister, Graziella de Luis, in the ET302 crash. Last year, he was appointed to the FAA Expert Panel established in the wake of the crashes at the direction of the US Congress. The Panel was charged with reviewing safety culture and practices at Boeing. He testified at this morning’s hearing and told the Court that the “Panel submitted its final report, which contained 27 findings and 53 recommendations listing various shortcomings in the areas of safety culture, safety reporting, and safety management. In plain terms, we found that employees still did not feel safe raising concerns, fearing retaliation; that communication between engineers and management remained weak; and that the systems meant to catch problems before they reached the public were not fully effective. … Boeing has demonstrated repeatedly that without oversight, without transparency, they will take the cheap and easy way out.”

Chris and Clariss Moore of Toronto, who lost their daughter Danielle, 24, in the crash, attended the hearing with their son David. Chris told the court, “The matter before this Court is not simply about money or about a technical dispute between Boeing and the Department of Justice. It is about whether the system of justice will uphold its most basic promise: equal justice under law.”

Paul Kiernan of Ireland, partner of Joanna Toole, who was killed in the second Boeing MAX8 crash in Ethiopia, testified in part, “It is clear to all, including The [Boeing] Company, that restitution without accountability is nothing more than a magic trick, it is the illusion of justice. The Boeing Company is using money to misdirect the Court and the families, while the Department of Justice makes the criminal charges and any form of accountability magically disappear. But this is not entertainment; this is a moral question of ethics, justice, and, ultimately, public interest. It is a question for the Court to answer, not The Company.”

The DOJ filed a motion to dismiss the criminal fraud matter against Boeing, but, instead, did an about-face and told the families earlier this year that it filed an NPA in federal district court in Texas that it does not intend to proceed with a criminal fraud trial against the aircraft manufacturer regarding two crashes of the 737 MAX8 aircraft six years ago killing 346 people. Instead, it offered a multi-million-dollar penalty to be assessed against Boeing to be divided equally among the families.

Cassell argued on behalf of the families that the NPA with Boeing does not approve of appropriate safety monitoring of Boeing and that it fails to reflect the fact that Boeing criminally caused 346 deaths of the crash victims. Boeing’s CEO and its lawyer admitted to the fraud in a guilty plea months ago.

“The proposed plea deal is not only deceptive but morally reprehensible because it fails to hold Boeing accountable for killing 346 people,” Cassell said. “A judge is allowed to reject a dismissal that is not in the public interest, and this misleading and unfair deal is clearly against the public interest.”

In January 2021, the DOJ charged Boeing with conspiracy to defraud the FAA and its certification of the defective MAX8 plane and reached an initial deferred prosecution deal with Boeing. The families argued that the judge should reject the proposed NPA and instead set the case for trial in June. That trial date was vacated by the Judge.

Then, in May 2024, the DOJ found that Boeing had breached the deferred prosecution agreement by failing to implement appropriate corporate compliance and safety measures. Later in July 2024, DOJ and Boeing reached a guilty plea deal. The families objected and, in December 2024, Judge O’Connor rejected the deal.

The new 2025 NPA asks Boeing to pay an additional $243.6 million as a penalty, pay an additional $444.5 million to the families, and make additional investments in safety. In exchange, the DOJ agreed to dismiss the criminal charges against Boeing.

Since Feb. 6, families have been requesting a meeting with U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi before the DOJ makes a final decision, but they have not received a response from her to date.

For further information, contact Clifford Law Offices Communications Partner Pamela Sakowicz Menaker at 847-721-0909 (cell) or email at Pammenaker@cliffordlaw.com.