Family members argue an independent monitor is needed to ensure Boeing's compliance with the agreement. Boeing's deal had no such requirement, unlike some past agreements with other companies.

Families of the victims of two fatal Boeing 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 will press U.S. Justice Department officials Wednesday to criminally prosecute the planemaker after a January in-flight blowout exposed continuing safety and quality issues.

Relatives and their lawyers are expected to argue that Boeing (BA.N), violated a 2021 deal with prosecutors to overhaul its compliance program following the crashes, which killed 346 people. Federal prosecutors agreed to ask a judge to dismiss a criminal charge against Boeing so long as it complied with the deal's terms over a three-year period.

But a panel blew off a new Boeing 737 MAX 9 jet during a Jan. 5 Alaska Airlines (ALK.N), opens new tab flight, just two days before the 2021 agreement expired. Justice Department officials are now weighing that incident as part of a broader probe into whether Boeing violated the deal, known as a deferred prosecution agreement, or DPA

"What we're saying to DOJ is, throw out the DPA," said Nadia Milleron, whose daughter, Samya Stumo, died while traveling aboard the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 that crashed in March 2019. "We want them to think to themselves: This is too much. There has to be accountability."

Family members argue an independent monitor is needed to ensure Boeing's compliance with the agreement. Boeing's deal had no such requirement, unlike some past agreements with other companies.

In January 2021, Boeing agreed to pay $2.5 billion to resolve a criminal investigation into the company's conduct surrounding the crashes. The U.S. planemaker agreed to compensate victims' relatives and overhaul its compliance practices as part of the deal with prosecutors.

In an earlier April meeting with family members' lawyers, Justice Department officials said they were looking at circumstances outlined in the 2021 deal that could put Boeing in breach of the agreement, such as the company committing a felony or misleading U.S. officials, one of the people familiar with the matter said.