Nadia Milleron and Families Demand Accountability from Boeing: Crime Victims’ Rights Act Meeting Amid Deferred Prosecution Agreement Controversy

Nadia Milleron, who lost her daughter in a 2019 Boeing crash, has turned grief into accountability by advocating for the manufacturer to be held responsible for deaths caused by its planes. She will meet Justice Department officials as part of requirements under the Crime Victims’ Rights Act alongside relatives of other victims killed in crashes involving Boeing aircraft. The US department launched an investigation after deadly incidents on Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines flight ET302 led to 346 fatalities between October 2018 and March 2019, prompting the grounding of Boeing’s troubled 737 Max model. While a deferred prosecution agreement with Boeing was struck during investigations by federal officials, families labelled it “a big corporate probation”. Ike Riffel – father to two sons who died in the Ethiopia crash – expressed anger at what he called a backroom deal made between US authorities and the aircraft maker. However, Milleron has expanded her efforts to hold manufacturers like Boeing accountable by running for Congress as an Independent candidate in Massachusetts, with aspirations of protecting ordinary people from abuses she claims are allowed under current systems. As families prepare to meet Justice Department officials on Wednesday, Riffel remains sceptical that anything will come out of the talks and called it a “dog and pony show” designed for appearances before judges overseeing related litigation in US federal courts in Chicago and Seattle. Both Milleron and Riffel are fighting for justice to be served while seeking answers about Boeing’s role in deadly crashes, as well as other dangerous incidents that have come to light since the door plug of an Alaska Airlines plane blew out mid-flight earlier this year.