Johnson & Johnson to Pay $70 million to Settle Foreign Bribes Charges

Johnson & Johnson agreed Friday to pay $70 million to settle charges that it bribed doctors in state run hospitals overseas to prescribe its drugs. The Government claims that J&J bribed docs in Europe and paid kickbacks in Iraq to get business, in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The company used slush funds and sham contracts with doctors and off-shore companies in the Isle of Man to process the bribes. In addition, the Government said that the company paid bribes to doctors in state run hospitals in Greece to buy the company’s surgical implants and in Poland in exchange for contracts and in Romania to prescribe the company’s drugs.