(NaturalNews) U.K.-based pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), a corporate “person” in the eyes of the federal government (http://blog.timesunion.com/occupyalbany/corporations-are-people/394/), has pleaded guilty to criminal charges in what even the mainstream media is calling the largest healthcare fraud case in history. And though the company is having to fork over $3 billion in collective fines for its illegal activity, no actual GSK employees or executives are being held personally responsible for their crimes.
A roughly nine-year federal investigation has exposed GSK’s rampant abuse of the law by illegally marketing drugs, forging drug safety data, bribing doctors to promote dangerous and expensive drugs, ripping off Medicare and Medicaid, and lying about the effectiveness and safety of drugs. And all this deception has generated tens of billions of dollars in profits for GSK over the years, while thousands of patients who used the drug products involved have suffered horrific side effects and even death.
But rather than pursue any of the individuals responsible for purveying such crimes, the federal government instead agreed to have GSK simply fork over $1 billion in criminal fines and $2 billion in civil fines. This $3 billion sum is but a fraction of the amount GSK raked in as a result of its illicit behavior, and the company’s employees are now essentially free to continue engaging in such behavior without having to worry about facing any real repercussions.
Big Pharma considers legal settlements to be just another cost of doing business
Though it may sound like a lot of money to most people, $3 billion is not really all that much for a company that generated more than $42 billion in revenues just last year. In fact, according to Reuters, GSK has agreed to pay the $3 billion in fines from company cash reserves that appear to be specifically earmarked for such uses.
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