Federal prosecutors and victims’ families are waiting for Boeing to decide whether to accept a plea deal that would settle a criminal fraud charge. The charge is based on the aerospace giant misleading regulators who approved the 737 Max jetliner before two of the planes crashed late 2018 and early 2019. Relatives of some of the 346 people who died in the crashes are furious about the plea offer, which Justice Department prosecutors spelled out in an online meeting with the families and their lawyers on Sunday. The families want to put Boeing on trial. Some of the lawyers involved in the case, however, say a plea deal is better than nothing.
