US Justice Department to meet families of 737 MAX victims on Boeing criminal case

FILE PHOTO: American civil aviation and Boeing investigators search through the debris at the scene of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 plane crash, near the town of Bishoftu, southeast of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia March 12, 2019. REUTERS/Baz Ratner/File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Justice Department on Friday plans to meet with the victims of two Boeing 737 MAX crashes that killed 346 people in 2018 and 2019 ahead of a June 23 trial date the planemaker faces, according to a letter reviewed by Reuters.

Last month, Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said the company was in discussions with the Justice Department to reach a revised plea agreement in a criminal fraud case stemming from the planemaker's alleged misrepresentations to regulators about a crucial flight control system on the 737 MAX.