And GOOG stock goes up. Rhode Island, which basically makes no money whatsoever triumphed over corporate monolith Google to the tune of (pinkie to corner of mouth) five hundred million dollars. That’s sort of a lot. Especially for the great state of Rhode Island, which is small enough you can toss a cinderblock from one end to the other without using both hands and one of the brokest states in the Union.
Massive unemployment.
They’re probably think-working how to get a couple bucks out of Amazon and Facebook, next. Tort, tort, tort, tort.
The Internet search leader, Google Inc., has agreed to pay $500 million to Rhode Island, To settle a U.S. government investigation into their distribution of online ads from Canadian pharmacies illegally selling prescription drugs to American consumers.
This is the first time that a search engine is being held accountable for that unlawful distribution of prescription drugs. The settlement guarantees no criminal trial for allegations that it illegally gained from advertisements promoting Canadian pharmacies who imported drugs into the United States.
“It sends a clear message to both Google and to others that contribute to America’s pill problem that they will be held to account for endangering the health and safety of the residents of this district and to persons all across the United States,” said Rhode Island Attorney Peter F. Neronha, describing the settlement as one of the largest in American history.
Google, in a press release clarified that it should not have permitted Canadian pharmacies to market such illegal drugs to Americans. The $500 million settlement totals the revenues the company collected through ad buys from Canadian pharmacies and also includes the earningsfrom drug sales to Americans from 2003-2009.
“We banned the advertising of prescription drugs in the U.S. by Canadian pharmacies some time ago, however, it’s obvious with hindsight that we shouldn’t have allowed these ads on Google in the first place,” the statement read. The company, who declined further comment, had their shares up slightly, trading at about $520.
Importing prescription drugs into the U.S. violates drug laws, and such imports are not subject to oversight by Canadian authorities, prosecutors said. They noted that Google only allowed Canadian online pharmacies to advertise on their website.
Prosecutors claim Google knew that its ad system was permitting Canadian pharmacies to make illegal sales. These include selling drugs without valid prescriptions from a licensed medical practitioner at a premium.
Another Food and Drug Administration investigation found that about 85 percent of the drugs examined included counterfeits and came from 27 different countries.
The probe could not touch the Canadians because American officials did not have the authority to press charges.
Investigators tricked Google’s ad system by creating seven undercover websites similar to the Canadian websites. An undercover investigator informed Google that the drugs were manufactured overseas and customers did not need to have a valid prescription.
Google employees created a full advertising campaign for the web sites despite knowing the fact that they were embroiled in drug trade.
To keep the web sites live, the investigators rapidly used their budget, and the web sites continued for four months.
Google became the centre of investigation after a suspect in an unrelated multimillion-dollar financial fraud was nabbed by authorities.
The suspect, David Whitaker, told investigators of how he illegally advertised drugs on Google, Neronha said. Prosecutors recommended a lighter punishment for Whitaker, who is awaiting sentencing on wire fraud, commercial bribery and other charges, citing his help to investigators on constructing the undercover websites used in the investigation.
The investigation exposed how Google’s automated ad system known as AdWords is exploited by shady operators. A major cash cow for Google, it is expected to generate more than $30 billion in revenue this year.
Sauce: wikinews