WASHINGTON, June 19 (Reuters) - Relatives of the victims

of two fatal Boeing 737 MAX crashes asked the Justice

Department on Wednesday to seek a fine against the planemaker of

up to $24.78 billion and move forward with a criminal

prosecution.

"Because Boeing's ( BA ) crime is the deadliest corporate crime in

U.S. history, a maximum fine of more than $24 billion is

legally justified and clearly appropriate," Paul Cassel, a

lawyer representing 15 families, wrote in a letter to the

Justice Department released on Wednesday.

The families said the Justice Department could

potentially suspend $14 billion to $22 billion of the fine "on

the condition that Boeing ( BA ) devote those suspended funds to an

independent corporate monitor and related improvements in

compliance and safety."

The Justice Department said in May it determined Boeing ( BA )

violated a 2021 deferred prosecution agreement that shielded the

company from a criminal charge of conspiracy to commit fraud

arising from fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346

people.

Boeing ( BA ) last week told the government it did not violate the

agreement. Federal prosecutors have until July 7 to inform a

federal judge in Texas of their plans, which could be proceeding

with a criminal case or negotiating a plea deal with Boeing ( BA ). The

Justice Department could also extend the deferred prosecution

agreement for a year.

Justice Department officials found that Boeing ( BA ) violated

the deferred prosecution agreement after a panel blew off a new

Alaska Airlines

Boeing 737 MAX 9 jet on Jan. 5

, just two days before the 2021 agreement expired. The

incident exposed continued safety and quality issues at Boeing ( BA ).

In the letter, the families also said Boeing's ( BA ) board of

directors should be ordered to meet with them and the department

should "launch criminal prosecutions of the responsible

corporate officials at Boeing ( BA ) at the time of the two crashes."

Boeing ( BA ) and the Justice Department did not immediately

comment.

The letter noted that Senator Richard Blumenthal,

who chairs the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on

Investigations and held a hearing with Boeing ( BA ) CEO Dave Calhoun

on Tuesday, said, "There is near overwhelming evidence in my

view as a former prosecutor that prosecution should be pursued."

The two fatal crashes of Boeing 737 MAX planes occurred

in 2018 and 2019 in Indonesia and Ethiopia and led to the

best-selling plane's worldwide grounding for 20 months. A safety

system called MCAS was linked to both fatal crashes.