Alibaba to pay $600 million to resolve US drug sales probe
FILE PHOTO: A man walks past the Alibaba logo displayed at its booth during the China International Supply Chain Expo in Beijing, China, July 16, 2025. REUTERS/Florence Lo/File Photo
Read a summary of this article on FAST.
Get bite-sized news via a new
cards interface. Give it a try.
Click here to return to FAST
Tap here to return to FAST
FAST
WASHINGTON, July 1 : Chinese technology and e-commerce giant Alibaba and its U.S.-based payment processor have agreed to pay $600 million to resolve allegations that they failed to prevent illegal drug sales, the U.S. Justice Department said on Wednesday.
The companies entered into non-prosecution agreements to resolve allegations that they violated the U.S. Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act by failing to prevent merchants from selling and importing illegal drugs, chemicals and pill presses into the United States through Alibaba’s e-commerce platforms.
The Justice Department said Alibaba and its U.S.-based payment processor, AUS Merchant Services, agreed as part of the deal to accept responsibility for the acts of their officers and employees and enhance their compliance programs.
“This settlement reflects a thorough regulatory process with Alibaba’s full cooperation and our commitment to best-in-class standards of control, policies, and measures against non-compliant product sales,” Alibaba said in a statement.
Guess Word
Crack the word, one row at a time
Buzzword
Create words using the given letters
Mini Sudoku
Tiny puzzle, mighty brain teaser
Mini Crossword
Small grid, big challenge
Word Search
Spot as many words as you can
According to the Justice Department, Alibaba as part of the deal admitted that it failed from 2016 to 2024 to prevent about 80,000 product sales of chemicals, drugs and pharmaceutical counterfeiting equipment that were imported from overseas.
Those transactions had a combined merchandise value of more than $200 million, according to the Justice Department. Law enforcement during the probe conducted more than 40 undercover purchases of illegal pharmaceuticals and counterfeiting equipment, it said.
At times, Alibaba employees raised concerns about whether illegal products were being sold and whether the company’s compliance measures were inadequate to prevent such sales from occurring, the department said.
The U.S. government said the U.S.-based payment processor’s anti-money laundering compliance program failed to prevent some merchants from using its services to facilitate the sale and importation of prohibited products.
“Today’s resolution reflects the Department of Justice’s commitment to ensuring that companies operating e-commerce and digital payment platforms keep illegal, unapproved, misbranded, and dangerous foreign pharmaceuticals off their marketplaces,” Assistant U.S. Attorney General Brett Shumate said in a statement.
Source: Reuters
Sign up for our newsletters
Get the CNA app
Stay updated with notifications for breaking news and our best stories
Get WhatsApp alerts
Join our channel for the top reads for the day on your preferred chat app
Get bite-sized news via a new
cards interface. Give it a try.
Click here to return to FAST
Tap here to return to FAST
FAST
About The Author
