The US pharmaceutical company Pfizer, which manufactures the Covid vaccination, has recently been slammed with several illegal fines totaling billions of dollars. Which company was fined the most? Large fines are gradually emerging as one of the most effective tools to hold large companies with eye-watering revenues to account. As authorities around the world try to catch up with companies in fields including finance, technology, healthcare, oil, and more. Here are some of the largest criminal fine ever collected.
Whoever Paid The Largest Ever Criminal Fine?
Considering that the pharmaceutical company’s 2009 run-in with US regulators resulted in the highest criminal penalties in history. Pfizer has frequently been named as the culprit. However, it is notable that both before and after Pfizer, other companies paid even more expensive fines.
Fukushima Tragedy In 2011
The Fukushima tragedy in 2011 injured many people, and Tepco, short for Tokyo Electric Power Co, has been ordered to pay £330 billion in damages. Since Chornobyl in 1986, the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan has experienced the biggest nuclear disaster. It was the worst nuclear accident since Chornobyl and was brought on by the horrific earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in March 2011.
Following an investigation into the Fukushima tragedy, three Tepco CEOs accused of failing to ensure that safety regulations follow. The accident, according to a Japanese parliamentary investigation, was “profoundly man-made.” Although it eventually determine that the three Tepco executives not to blame for the catastrophe. The corporation still require to pay more than £300 billion in damages to those who injured as a result of the pipe leaks.
A criminal fine of $2.8 billion was also issued on BP in 2012 for its involvement in the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. However, later on, the price of BP’s expensive compensation process increased the amount to roughly $47 billion.
After the oil corporation announces it will repurchase shares worth $1.4 billion and increase its dividend, BP’s stock price jumped. This is why. A 2010 environmental disaster resulted in 11 deaths and a $4.5 billion fine from American regulators.
Buzzfeed ultimately learned that BP only made a $25 million payment to Mexico as a result of the tragedy. The Bank of America, which has spent an estimated $82.7 billion. Since 2000 has also made reparations of roughly $11 billion for its part in the 2008 financial crisis and subprime mortgage crisis.
What Was The Amount Of Pfizer’s Criminal Fine?
Although the £1.7 billion ($2.3 billion) criminal fine imposed on Pfizer in 2009. It was somewhat less than the astronomical fines issued against companies like Tepco, BP, and Bank of America. It still set a new record as the highest healthcare fraud settlement and criminal fine to date.
According to US authorities, Pfizer fined after it was discovered that it had fraudulently promoted the now-withdrawn painkiller Bextra.
