Google Prepared to Settle in Illegal Drug Ad Investigation

$500 million charge against earnings explained

Remember that $500 million that Google recently set aside for unknown reasons? It turns out that the company may use that huge sum to settle with the Department of Justice in a criminal investigation into whether the site made huge profits off of ads from illegal online pharmacies, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Google disclosed the $500 million in a filing to the SEC earlier this week, but didn’t specify what it would be used for.

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