According to the Wall Street Journal the DOJ has opened an investigation into the Alaska Airlines blowout:
The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into the Boeing 737 MAX blowout on an Alaska Airlines flight, according to documents and people familiar with the matter.
Investigators have contacted some passengers and crew on the Jan. 5 flight, which made an emergency landing in Portland, Ore., after a fuselage panel ripped off midair, according to the documents and people.
The DOJ seems to be following up to see if Boeing is complying with a $2.5B settlement in 2021 over the 737 Max crashes in 2018 and 2019. Apparently, they have already interviewed witnesses and crew from the flight.
If the Justice Department finds that Boeing violated the terms of the 2021 settlement, the company could face prosecution on the original count of defrauding the U.S. Alternatively, the government could seek to extend the probationary, three-year agreement that requires Boeing to update the Justice Department on its compliance improvements.
It is long past time that everything having to do with the Airline industry got investigated and all regulations got rigorously enforced.