The Justice Department has reached a deal with Boeing that will allow the airplane giant to avoid criminal prosecution for allegedly misleading U.S. regulators about the 737 Max jetliner before two of the planes crashed and killed 346 people,

Under the “agreement in principle,” which still needs to be finalized, Boeing would pay and invest more than $1.1 billion, including an additional $445 million for the crash victims’ families, the Ju...

The families of the victims sought a public trial to prosecute executives and inflict steep financial penalties on Boeing.