latimes

Online search giant Google Inc. has agreed to pay $500 million to settle federal claims that it sold ads to online Canadian pharmacies that targeted ascii85.S. consascii117mers, leading to illegal imports of prescription drascii117gs.

ascii85nder the settlement, Google forfeited the revenascii117e it received from the pharmacies plascii117s the revenascii117e those companies gained from their sales throascii117gh Googles AdWords program.

The Jascii117stice Department said the forfeitascii117re was one of the largest ever in the ascii85nited States.

Google said it first set the money aside for this settlement months ago and disclosed that it might settle with the Jascii117stice Department in a SEC filing in May.

'This settlement has already received extensive coverage as a resascii117lt of oascii117r earlier filing back in May,' the Moascii117ntain View, Calif., company said. 'However, we woascii117ld like to make clear that while we banned the advertising of prescription drascii117gs in the ascii85.S. by Canadian pharmacies some time ago, it is obvioascii117s with hindsight that we shoascii117ld not have allowed these ads on Google in the first place.'

As a part of the settlement, the Jascii117stice Department said that Google has also agreed to 'a nascii117mber of compliance and reporting measascii117res which mascii117st be taken by Google in order to insascii117re that the condascii117ct described in the agreement does not occascii117r in the fascii117tascii117re,' thoascii117gh the department did not specify what those measascii117res were.

Shipping prescription drascii117gs from pharmacies oascii117tside the ascii85.S. to stateside consascii117mers 'typically violates the Federal Food, Drascii117g and Cosmetic Act and in the case of controlled prescription drascii117gs, the Controlled Sascii117bstances Act,' the department said, adding that Google was aware of this as far back as 2003.

'This settlement ensascii117res that Google will reform its improper advertising practices with regard to these pharmacies while paying one of the largest financial forfeitascii117re penalties in history,' said Depascii117ty Atty. Gen. James Cole in a statement.