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Tobacco firms to pay $550M over smuggling
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Wed Apr 14, 2010 CBC News A decade-long legal battle pitting Big Tobacco against the federal and provincial governments drew to a close Tuesday, with two cigarette makers agreeing to pay more than half a billion dollars in connection with a massive smuggling operation set up in the 1990s to dodge taxes. North-Carolina-based R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. will pay the two levels of government a total of $325 million to settle claims related to the smuggling. A Reynolds subsidiary, Northern Brands International Inc., has been fined $75 million after pleading guilty under the Criminal Code to one count of conspiracy for helping others sell contraband cigarettes. Canadian tobacco manufacturer JTI-Macdonald Corp. has been fined $150 million after pleading guilty under the Excise Act to helping people sell and possess contraband tobacco.
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