According to the Wall Streeet Journal, Google has agreed  to pay $500 Million dollars to the US government to avoid prosecution over allegations that it knowingly accepted hundreds of millions of dollars in ads from rogue online pharmacies.

“The pharmacies appearing in Google ads were operating outside the law, leading to a Department of Justice investigation into Google’s advertising practices – an investigation which decreased Google’s profits by 22%, reports the The New York Times.”

“The Justice Department said that the forfeiture was one of the largest ever in the U.S. and represented the gross revenue received by Google as a result of Canadian pharmacies advertising on Google, plus gross revenue made by Canadian pharmacies from their sales to U.S. consumers.”

“The Department of Justice will continue to hold accountable companies who in their bid for profits violate federal law and put at risk the health and safety of American consumers,” said James Cole, deputy attorney general. “This settlement ensures that Google will reform its improper advertising practices with regard to these pharmacies while paying one of the largest financial forfeiture penalties in history.”

“”The settlement means Google will not face further criminal prosecution for profiting from ads promoting illegal pharmacies.”