Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and its US digital payment processor, AUS Merchant Services, have agreed to pay 600 million dollars to resolve a federal investigation. The U.S. Justice Department announced the agreement on Wednesday.
The investigation centered on whether the companies failed to prevent the sale and importation of illegal pharmaceuticals, controlled substances, and other restricted items into the United States. The payment resolves allegations that the firms allowed merchants to conduct these illegal sales.
The e-commerce giant admitted it failed to prevent 80,000 illegal drug product sales. As part of the resolution, Alibaba entered into a non-prosecution agreement to end the probe into the alleged violations.