Alibaba.com and a U.S.-based payment processor will pay $600 million after the Justice Department said they enabled illegal pharmaceutical and other restricted-item sales into the U.S.
Alibaba Group and a U.S.-based payment processor agreed to pay $600 million to resolve Justice Department allegations that they allowed merchants to sell and import illegal pharmaceuticals and other restricted items into the United States. The Justice Department said the operator of Alibaba.com admitted in a non-prosecution agreement that it failed to prevent merchants from carrying out about 80,000 sales involving illegal imports into the U.S. The settlement adds detail to an already disclosed federal probe and underscores regulatory pressure on cross-border e-commerce platforms and the payments firms that facilitate transactions.