British American Tobacco (BAT), one of the world’s largest manufacturers of tobacco products, will pay more than $635 million in fines to resolve bank fraud and sanctions violations charges brought by the U.S. government after a subsidiary of the company admitted to selling tobacco products to North Korea.
The agreement to defer prosecution was announced Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
“British American Tobacco and its subsidiary engaged in an elaborate scheme to circumvent U.S. sanctions and sell tobacco products to North Korea in violation of U.S. law,” said Matthew G. Olsen, assistant attorney general of the DOJ’s National Security Division, in a statement. “With today’s action, which involves the largest settlement payment in the department’s history, these entities have been held to account.”…