By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The U.S. attorney general Merrick Garland met Wednesday with relatives of victims of fatal Boeing (NYSE) 737 MAX accidents. They discussed the decision of the previous administration to enter into a delayed prosecution agreement with Boeing.

The December 2021 January Agreement between Boeing and the Justice Department was criticized by relatives of the victims. It covered the two fatal crashes that occurred in five-months, which killed 346 persons.

They claimed the U.S. government “lied” and violated their rights in a secret procedure. The judge was asked to cancel Boeing’s immunity for criminal prosecution that was part of the $2.5 Billion deal and publicly arraign the planemaker on the felony charges.

Paul Cassell (a lawyer for families) stated that during the Garland meeting, they “expressed out view that department under previous administration failed to fulfill its obligations under the Criminal Victims’ Rights Act, and we hope that he will intervene in order to rectify this wrong.”

The Justice Department didn’t immediately respond.

Boeing was able to escape prosecution through the January 2021 settlement. It includes a $243.6M fine, $1.77B in compensation for airlines, and $500M crash-victims fund. The February 2021 settlement covers fraud conspiracy and other charges related to Boeing’s defective design.

A 21-month Justice Department investigation was concluded into design and development for the 737 MAX after the crashes in Indonesia in 2018 and in Ethiopia in 2019.

Boeing ex-chief technical pilot was indicted for fraud after he deceived federal regulators while evaluating its 737 MAX plane. He denies any wrongdoing.

Boeing lost $20 billion in crashes and the plane was grounded for 20 months. Congress passed legislation to reform new aircraft certification.

Boeing was able to save $243million by not using full-flight simulator training, according to the Justice Department.