Tobacco company settles with US over business in North Korea

Apr 25, 2023, 11:01 AM | Updated: 7:16 pm

WASHINGTON (AP) — A British tobacco company has agreed to pay more than $629 million to settle allegations that it did illegal business with North Korea in violation of U.S. sanctions, the Justice Department said Tuesday.

British American Tobacco, one of the largest tobacco companies in the world, entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the Justice Department, while the company’s Singapore subsidiary pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit bank fraud and violate sanctions.

The London-based BAT said in its own statement that the settlement concerns sales from 2007 through 2017 and that the company has since taken steps to improve its business practices.

North Korea evade sanctions with the cooperation of allies like China and illicit trade with barred countries and companies.

Smuggled tobacco products are regarded as a major source of revenue for North Korea’s nuclear and weapons of mass destruction programs, the Justice Department said.

The penalty is the largest arising from North Korea sanctions violations in the Justice Department’s history, said Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen.

“This case and others like it do serve as a warning shot to companies, companies that support rogue regimes like North Korea through their activities — that they have to have compliance programs, compliance programs that prevent these kinds of activities from taking place,” he said.

BAT admitted as part of the settlement that it continued to do tobacco business in North Korea despite stating publicly in 2007 that it no longer had operations with the repressive regime. Prosecutors say a third-party company operating under the control of a BAT subsidiary sold more than $400 million in tobacco products between 2007 and 2017.

That money was then funneled back to BAT, the Justice Department said. North Korean purchases of the tobacco occurred through front companies that concealed the connections from U.S. banks that processed the transactions.

In a statement, BAT chief executive Jack Bowles said the company regrets “the misconduct arising from historical business activities that led to these settlements, and acknowledge that we fell short of the highest standards rightly expected of us.”

He said the company, whose brands include Lucky Strike, Kent and Pall Mall, had since transformed its ethics and compliance programs.

Separately, federal prosecutors disclosed a cigarette trafficking scheme that raised money for North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, announcing charges against three men — a North Korean banker and two Chinese facilitators. The State Department has announced a reward for information leading to their arrest.

British American Tobacco agreed in 2017 to take over Reynolds American Inc., which owned brands like Newport and Camel, creating the world’s largest publicly traded tobacco company.

United States News

Protestors gather in the atrium of Atlanta City Hall to protest the proposed police training center...

Associated Press

Atlanta project decried as ‘Cop City’ gets funding approval from City Council

ATLANTA (AP) — Atlanta City Council on Tuesday approved funding for the construction of a proposed police and firefighter training center, rejecting the pleas of hundreds of activists who packed City Hall and spoke for hours in fierce opposition to the project they decry as “Cop City.” The 11-4 vote is a significant victory for […]

4 hours ago

President Joe Biden listens as he meets with Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in the Oval...

Associated Press

White House website highlights infrastructure as Biden pushes policy wins

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House on Tuesday is launching a website to map and track tens of thousands of manufacturing investments, an effort by the administration to show the positive impact of its policies on the U.S. economy to a skeptical public. The site, Invest.gov, documents roughly 32,000 infrastructure projects and more than $470 […]

4 hours ago

FILE - Nevada Gov.-elect Joe Lombardo speaks with supporters at Rancho High School in Las Vegas, Mo...

Associated Press

Oakland Athletics move to Las Vegas in flux as Nevada Legislature adjourns

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — A plan to help build a stadium for the Oakland Athletics in Las Vegas is in flux after Nevada lawmakers adjourned their four-month legislative session. The future of the contentious bill is now uncertain after the Democratic-controlled Legislature did not advance it before the midnight deadline as Monday turned to […]

4 hours ago

Associated Press

California investigating whether DeSantis involved in flying asylum-seekers from Texas to Sacramento

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Officials were investigating Tuesday whether Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis was behind a flight that picked up asylum-seekers on the Texas border and flew them — apparently without their knowledge — to California’s capital, even as faith-based groups scrambled to find housing and food for them. About 20 people ranging in age […]

1 day ago

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, center, poses for a selfie after a town hall style meeting a...

Associated Press

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie set to launch 2024 presidential bid at New Hampshire town hall

NEW YORK (AP) — Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is set to launch his bid for the Republican nomination for president at a town hall in New Hampshire on Tuesday evening. The campaign will be the second for Christie, who lost to Trump in 2016 and went on to become a close on-and-off adviser […]

1 day ago

This booking photo provided by the Missouri Department of Corrections shows Michael Tisius. Tisius ...

Associated Press

Missouri man facing execution for killing 2 jailers in failed bid to help inmate escape in 2000

A man who shot and killed two rural Missouri jailers nearly 23 years ago during a failed bid to help an inmate escape is set to be executed Tuesday evening. for killing Leon Egley and Jason Acton at the small Randolph County Jail on June 22, 2000. Tisius’ lawyers have urged the U.S. Supreme Court […]

1 day ago

Sponsored Articles

...

OCD & Anxiety Treatment Center

5 mental health myths you didn’t know were made up

Helping individuals understand mental health diagnoses like obsessive compulsive spectrum disorder or generalized anxiety disorder isn’t always an easy undertaking. After all, our society tends to spread misconceptions about mental health like wildfire. This is why being mindful about how we talk about mental health is so important. We can either perpetuate misinformation about already […]

...

Desert Institute for Spine Care

Spinal fusion surgery has come a long way, despite misconceptions

As Dr. Justin Field of the Desert Institute for Spine Care explained, “we've come a long way over the last couple of decades.”

(Desert Institute for Spine Care in Arizona Photo)...

Desert Institute for Spine Care in Arizona

5 common causes for chronic neck pain

Neck pain can debilitate one’s daily routine, yet 80% of people experience it in their lives and 20%-50% deal with it annually.

Tobacco company settles with US over business in North Korea