Sign up to create alerts for Instruments,
Economic Events and content by followed authors
Free Sign Up Already have an account? Sign In
Quotes
All Instrument Types
- All Instrument Types
- Indices
- Equities
- ETFs
- Funds
- Commodities
- Currencies
- Crypto
- Bonds
- Certificates
Please try another search
💎 Reveal Undervalued Stocks Hiding in Any Market Get Started
H&M reaches $36 million settlement with New York over unused gift cards
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The H&M clothing store is seen in Times Square in Manhattan, New York, U.S., November 15, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Segar
By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) -H&M will pay $36 million to settle accusations that the fashion retailer illegally kept millions of dollars in gift cards that customers never used, New York Attorney General Letitia James said on Thursday.
The Swedish company, whose full name is H&M Hennes & Mauritz AB (ST:HMb), will pay $28.26 million to the state and $7.74 million to a whistleblower, William French.
James said H&M had since 2008 unlawfully kept at least $18.4 million in unused gift card balances in its own bank accounts, instead of transferring them to the state's Abandoned Property Fund.
New York law requires gift card issuers to turn over unused card balances to the fund after five years of inactivity.
James also said H&M repeatedly lied about the missing transfers by saying an Ohio company, which had no obligation to send the balances to New York, handled its gift card business.
"My office has zero tolerance for companies that disregard the law and line their pockets with money that belongs to hardworking people," James said in a statement. "Violating the law is not trendy or tolerable."
H&M, based in Stockholm, specializes in "fast fashion." It did not admit or deny wrongdoing in agreeing to settle.
The company had no comment on the settlement.
H&M has about 4,800 stores worldwide, and posted net sales of 199 billion Swedish krona ($20.1 billion) in 2021, according to its website.
French had sued H&M in 2016, accusing it of violating New York's False Claims Act.
In a statement, his lawyer Daniel Miller said taxpayers "should be thankful" for his client's efforts.
Customers with unused H&M gift cards issued between 2004 and 2014 can use them at H&M, or file a claim with New York's Office of Unclaimed Funds https://www.osc.state.ny.us/unclaimed-funds.
($1 = 9.90 SEK)
Related Articles
Add Chart to Comment
Confirm Block
Are you sure you want to block %USER_NAME%?
By doing so, you and %USER_NAME% will not be able to see any of each other's Investing.com's posts.
%USER_NAME% was successfully added to your Block List
Since you’ve just unblocked this person, you must wait 48 hours before renewing the block.
Report this comment
I feel that this comment is:
Comment flagged
Thank You!
Your report has been sent to our moderators for review
Add a Comment
We encourage you to use comments to engage with other users, share your perspective and ask questions of authors and each other. However, in order to maintain the high level of discourse we’ve all come to value and expect, please keep the following criteria in mind:
Enrich the conversation, don’t trash it.
Stay focused and on track. Only post material that’s relevant to the topic being discussed.
Be respectful. Even negative opinions can be framed positively and diplomatically. Avoid profanity, slander or personal attacks directed at an author or another user. Racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination will not be tolerated.
Perpetrators of spam or abuse will be deleted from the site and prohibited from future registration at Investing.com’s discretion.