6 Google – $9.5 billion

Google has been charged with a series of fines totaling $9.5bn (£7bn). These fines are charged against Google by the EU for alleged anti-competitive practices and cybersecurity concerns.

Google has been fined $9.5 billion in three separate cases by the European Commission. In 2018, the EU charged Google $5 billion dollars for holding back its competition using its Android phone software. Google’s software has control over 80% of the world’s smartphones, which forced its customers to use its search engine, which weakened competing search providers and app makers.

Google allegedly violated the competition law and paid an extra chunk of money to large manufacturers to pre-install Google Search and Google Chrome apps on Android devices. The commission also inquired about voice assistants, the producers of smartphones restricting users from installing a second voice assistant on the phone.

Google was charged $2.7 billion for promoting Google Shopping in its search engine over other shopping services. The further series of charges against Goggle was also for alleged anti-competitive practices, online privacy, data protection, and concerns about cybersecurity, which totaled around $9.5bn. (1, 2)

7 BNP Paribas – $8.9 billion

BNP Paribas settled and paid $8.9 billion to resolve claims and was also sentenced by a US judge for a five-year ordeal of dealing with US-blacklisted countries Sudan, Cuba, and Iran.

The largest bank in France paid $8.9 billion to settle charges against processing billions worth of transactions on behalf of Iran, Cuba, and Sudan institutions that are blacklisted. The Global financial institution, BNP Paribas, violated the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and also the Trading with the Enemy Act (TWEA).

The bank was guilty of violating US economic sanctions on a large scale. These sanctions protect national security interests, and the world’s fourth-largest bank BNP violated the sanctions and invited three sanctioned countries, Iran, Cuba, and Sudan, into US financial markets.

BNP “knowingly and willfully” made transactions worth $ 8.8 billion over a period of eight years from the US financial system on behalf of sanctioned institutions Sudanese, Iranian, and Cuban. For this unlawful act, BNP paid a heavy amount of $8.97 billion which included financial penalties of $ 8.97 billion and a fine worth $140 million. (1, 2)

8 Facebook – $5 billion

An investigation was launched in 2018 by the US Federal Trade Commission regarding Facebook’s privacy practices. In 2019, Facebook was charged a whopping amount of $5 billion for violating consumers’ privacy. It violated a 2012 FTC order and misled its users of their power to control their privacy.

A record-breaking penalty of $5 billion was levied by US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Facebook in 2019 for the engagement in “unfair acts” and violating consumer’s privacy.

In 2018, the FTC launched an investigation regarding substantial concerns about Facebook privacy practices. The investigation took place after a week of scandals and public outrage questioning the company’s failure to protect the privacy of its millions of customers.

Facebook misled its users of their power to control the privacy of their personal information, which is a violation of the 2012 FTC order. For violating their users’ privacy, this was the biggest ever penalty charged on any company.

With the settlement of $5 billion, new restrictions have been imposed on Facebook’s business operations. It restricted its privacy approach and established new mechanisms. This ensured that Facebook executives are responsible for all the decisions made about privacy. (1, 2)

9 GlaxoSmithKline – $3 billion

The largest penalty paid by a drug company was by the healthcare giant GlaxoSmithKline LLC (GSK). They paid $3 billion to resolve its criminal and civil liabilities which arose for promoting certain prescription drugs illegally and for false price-reporting practices.

Global healthcare giant GlaxoSmithKline LLC (GSK) paid $3 billion, which is the largest penalty ever paid by a drug company to resolve its criminal and civil liability. The company illegally promoted certain prescription drugs. It was also charged with civil liability for false-reporting practices and failed to report certain safety data. 

GSK was charged with three counts of publishing criminal information: one of the counts for failing to report safety data, and the remaining two counts were for introducing misbranded drugs named Paxil and Wellbutrin. According to the terms of the plea agreement, the GSK company had to pay $1 billion including a $956,814,400 criminal fine, and to resolve the criminal liability, it paid $2 billion to the federal government. (source)

10 Pfizer – $2.3 billion

In 2009, Pfizer, the world’s biggest drug-maker, was fined $2.3 billion in a U.S. criminal charge. It pleaded guilty to advertising its drug to doctors and patients for purposes that were not approved by the government. Pfizer marketed its drug Bextra for unapproved uses.

In 2009, the largest healthcare fraud was committed by the world’s biggest drug-maker, Pfizer. They paid a whopping amount of $2.3 billion to clear its civil and criminal allegations for illegally promoting four of its drugs, including the painkiller Bextra.

After the approval of the Food and Drug Administration, doctors could prescribe these drugs off-label, for any use, but the company can promote them for extra uses.

Pharmacia & Upjohn, which is a subsidiary of Pfizer, advertised the drug Bextra for unapproved uses because the drug was approved only for treating rheumatoid arthritis, menstrual pain, and osteoarthritis, but it was also promoted as pain relief after knee-replacement surgery.

Pfizer paid $1.195 billion as part of the settlement. To compensate federal healthcare programs for civil damages and penalties, the company paid $1 billion, and a $105 million criminal fine was paid by Pharmacia & Upjohn. (1, 2)