The ‘Don’t Be Evil’ Jokes Continue to Write Themselves

Thomas Catan and Amir Efrati, reporting for the WSJ:

Google Inc. is close to settling a U.S. criminal investigation into allegations it made hundreds of millions of dollars by accepting ads from online pharmacies that break U.S. laws, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Internet company disclosed in a cryptic regulatory filing earlier this week that it was setting aside $500 million to potentially resolve a case with the Justice Department. A payment of that size would be among the highest penalties paid by companies in disputes with the U.S. government.

Google gave few details in its filing about the probe, saying only that it involved “the use of Google advertising by certain advertisers.”

Here’s another weird thing about their SEC filing: Google is applying the $500 million charge not to this quarter, but to the quarter that ended back on March 31, which they reported a month ago.

★ Friday, 13 May 2011