WASHINGTON, May 14 (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice

Department on Friday plans to meet with the victims of two

Boeing 737 MAX crashes that killed 346 people in 2018 and

2019 ahead of a June 23 trial date the planemaker faces,

according to a letter reviewed by Reuters.

Last month, Boeing ( BA ) CEO Kelly Ortberg said the company was in

discussions with the Justice Department to reach a revised plea

agreement in a criminal fraud case stemming from the

planemaker's alleged misrepresentations to regulators about a

crucial flight control system on the 737 MAX.

"I want this resolved as fast as anybody," Ortberg said

in

April at a U.S. Senate hearing

. "Hopefully, we'll have a new agreement here soon."

Friday's virtual meeting will give victims' relatives the

opportunity to confer with the Justice Department but the letter

dated Wednesday did not disclose any update in the case.

Boeing ( BA ) declined to comment. The Justice Department did not

immediately respond to a request for comment.

Last July, Boeing ( BA ) agreed to plead guilty to a criminal

fraud conspiracy charge after the two fatal 737 MAX crashes in

2018 and 2019 in Indonesia and Ethiopia and to pay a fine of up

to $487.2 million.

The plea deal also included spending $455 million to improve

safety and compliance practices over three years of

court-supervised probation as well as the appointment of an

independent monitor for three years.

Relatives of the victims of the crashes said the

agreement was a "sweetheart" deal that failed to adequately hold

Boeing ( BA ) to account for the deaths of their loved ones. The two

crashes led to the bestselling plane being grounded for 20

months and cost Boeing ( BA ) more than $20 billion.

The 2024 plea deal would brand Boeing a convicted felon

for conspiring to defraud the Federal Aviation Administration

about problems with software on the flight control systems

during the MAX's certification.

In May 2024, the DOJ found Boeing ( BA ) had violated a 2021

agreement that had shielded it from prosecution over the

crashes. Prosecutors then decided to

criminally charge

Boeing ( BA ) and negotiate the current plea deal.

The decision followed the January 2024

in-flight blowout

of a door panel on a new Alaska Airlines' 737 MAX 9

missing four key bolts.

Last month, Boeing ( BA )

reached settlements with families of

two people who died in the 2019 Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX

crash on the eve of a trial.