Investing.com -- FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX) announced on Friday afternoon that the U.S. Department of Justice has dismissed all remaining criminal charges pending against the company, signifying the conclusion of a two-year internet pharmacy case.
The announcement provides vindication for the major shipping company, which maintained its innocence through a two-year ordeal in which FedEx faced up to $1.6 billion in fines for money laundering and conspiracy related to its assistance with drug deliveries for rogue online pharmacies. As part of the charges, FedEx was accused of accepting payments from several pharmacies when several senior managers from the company allegedly knew that the pharmacies supplied drugs to their customers without prescriptions. At a pre-trial hearing in late-May, U.S. district judge Charles Breyer expressed skepticism that prosecutors had sufficient proof that FedEx intended for the drugs to be distributed illegally.
Lawyers for FedEx argued that it was the government's burden to inform the company which pharmacies had acted illegally.
"FedEx is and has always been innocent,” said Patrick Fitzgerald, Senior Vice President, Marketing and Communications, FedEx, in a statement. “The case should never have been brought. The government should take a very hard look at how they made the tremendously poor decision to file these charges. Many companies would not have had the courage or the resources to defend themselves against false charges. The power of the government was greatly misused when the case was initiated, but the government’s integrity was redeemed by the decision to dismiss the charges today."
In 2013, UPS agreed to forfeit $40 million to the Justice Department for payments the company received from online pharmacies shipping illegal prescriptions. Two major pharmacy chains, CVS Health Corp (NYSE:CVS) and Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA) have also paid settlements amounting to $150 million combined in recent years to resolve charges that they sold prescriptions which did not have an actual therapeutic use.
FedEx remains committed to its long-standing cooperation with law enforcement authorities to prevent misuse of its transportation networks, the company said in a statement.
Shares in FedEx closed on Friday at 162.25, up 0.38 or 0.23% for the session.