COLUMBUS, Ohio (Legal Newsline) – Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced a settlement on Wednesday with a tobacco maker for allegedly failing to establish an escrow account for the sale of its cigarettes as required by law. Grand River Enterprises Six Nations LTD deposited $984,185 into a state escrow account, paid penalties and post-judgment interest of $1,052,000 to the state General Revenue Fund and paid attorney fees and costs of $82,000 to DeWine’s office as part of the settlement. “We are glad to have reached this settlement,” DeWine said. “It’s g ... Jump to full article >>

I designed my Rising Star portfolio with a specific mission: to invest real money in companies that make a positive impact on the world. That mission is easier said than done, since corporate good deeds (and misdeeds) may be more complex than they initially appear. Case in point: I was surprised to see Altria (NYSE: MO) ranked fairly high on Corporate Responsibility magazine’s annual 100 Best Corporate Citizens list. Ask any Fool for a clear-cut example of a “sin stock,” and I’ll bet Altria would swiftly spring to mind. Is the cigarette maker as bad as it seems, or an a ... Jump to full article >>

Tobacco companies should admit in product warnings that they deceived the public about the dangers of smoking and manipulated their products to increase addiction, the Justice Department said Wednesday. The department, in the final phase of a long-running court case against leading tobacco companies, released a series of statements that it wants cigarette makers to publish about the dangers of their products. “We manipulated cigarettes to make them more addictive,” one proposed statement would say, while another offers this: “We control nicotine delivery to create and sustain ... Jump to full article >>

A day after raids were conducted at the premises of eight tobacco manufacturing companies here, the Commercial Tax Department has pegged tax evasion by them to the tune of Rs 150 crore besides an unaudited turnover of Rs 900 crore. “These companies have collectively evaded Rs 150 crore in payment of commercial tax and a total turnover of Rs 900 crore has been unaccounted in the last eleven months,” Additional Commissioner, Special Investigation Cell of the Commercial Tax Department, Shatrughna Upadhyaya said today. His department would recover around Rs 450 crore in penalties from ... Jump to full article >>

The provincial assembly on Tuesday unanimously demanded full rights for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa over its tobacco crop as well as its export and constituted a committee under the chairmanship of Agriculture Minister Arbab Ayub Jan to present its recommendations in this regard. Pakistan People’s Party’s parliamentary leader Abdul Akbar Khan, who initiated the debate on an adjournment motion, said that tobacco was the only cash crop of the province but the authority to deal with it rested with the federal government. He observed that the federal government had not only ignored tobacco growers but ... Jump to full article >>

MONTREAL Tobacco companies are being accused of skirting highly publicized federal legislation — announced by Prime Minister Stephen Harper — designed to keep kids from getting hooked on flavoured cigarettes. Importers of those little cigarillos that come in flavours like vanilla, strawberry and peach have changed the size and characteristics on their product in order to get them in the country. One anti-smoking advocate describes it as a direct reaction to the law and an attempt to circumvent it. “It’s a game of cat and mouse,” according to Rob Cunningham of the Canadian Cancer Soci ... Jump to full article >>

Industry and free-market advocates have joined forces to undermine tobacco research, and they’re doing so again on global warming. If some of the ongoing attacks on the credibility of climate science feel familiar, there’s a reason. With their unattributed claims downplaying the severity of the problem and their vague allegations of scientific impropriety, the assaults are the latest in a long tradition of organized efforts by industry and free-market enthusiasts to undermine the credibility of science they don’t like. One early campaign was launched by tobacco companies. Se ... Jump to full article >>

The outstanding demand for fine cut tobacco brands across the United States has triggered an increase in Commonwealth Brands Inc. market share, while major American tobacco companies are laying off workers and shutting down plants. Commonwealth spokesman declared last week that it is currently extending its manufacturing unit in Reidsville, a small city in North Carolina, by launching another product line involving production of cigarette tubes, which smokers use in making their own cigarettes in order to get a low-cost smoke. The company added it would open 35 work places in 2010, rising the ... Jump to full article >>

A dispute has broken out over whether tobacco companies should be forced to pay a ‘clean-up charge’ for cigarette butts. The environment, food and rural affairs committee’s report into waste strategy, published earlier this week, called on the government to evaluate the practicalities of imposing a small ‘clean-up’ levy on the products most commonly littered. “Revenues could be distributed to local authorities to help clean up their neighbourhoods,” the report suggested. The Tobacco Manufacturers’ Association reacted strongly against the proposal ... Jump to full article >>

Some years ago, in the heyday of cigarette smuggling, I found myself in a speedboat bouncing on the St. Lawrence River at 65 mph, heading to the Akwesasne Indian reserve that straddles the Canada-U.S. border. Behind the wheel was a young French Canadian named Pierre, who described himself as a mid-size player in a billion dollar game. He smuggled 275 cases of cigarettes a week, each case filled with 50 cartons of smokes. In six months, he had made $100,000. (Note: Money in this story is in Canadian dollars.) He set up our first meeting in a raunchy strip bar in Sainte Barbe, a small Quebec tow ... Jump to full article >>

The Association of National Advertisers, the American Association of Advertising Agencies and the American Advertising Federation, filed a “friend of the court” brief in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. Filed with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky on Monday (Nov. 30), the amicus brief contends that the Act violates the First Amendment by restricting free speech. Signed into law in June, the Tobacco Control Act restricts the sale, marketing and production of tobacco products. Nearly every ... Jump to full article >>