There’s a smell like a dirty ashtray about the U.S. Justice Department’s sudden $120 billion cut in the penalties it’s seeking from Big Tobacco in a racketeering lawsuit.
In closing arguments before U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler in Washington this week, the government slashed to $10 billion the amount it’s seeking for smoking cessation programs from six big tobacco companies and two industry groups.
After a nine-month trial, Justice’s unexpected shift brought accusations from smoking critics in Congress that political appointees in the Justice Department with previous connections to tobacco are wielding too much political influence. Even the judge said the change “suggests that additional influences have been brought to bear on what the government’s case is.”
And a tobacco lawyer found the maneuvers odd. “In 48 hours, we’ve heard three different plans from the government about its proposed cessation program. And it’s almost comical to listen to the government try to explain it,” Ted Wells, a Philip Morris lawyer, said to The Washington Post.
Originally, the government wanted to force the companies to cough up $280 billion in past profits. But in February, a federal appeals court ruled seizure of past profits was not allowed. Sharon Eubanks, head of the government trial team, told Judge Kessler Thursday the change was dictated by the appeals court ruling. Department officials deny any improper influences.
The case alleged that tobacco companies engaged in a fraudulent scheme that including youth marketing, suppression of documents in litigation, lying about tobacco’s harm and about addiction, manipulating nicotine levels to cause addiction, failing to perform promised independent research and marketing light, low-tar products as if they were better for users while knowing they weren’t.
The government’s change of heart seemed to contradict its own expert witness, Dr. Michael Fiore, a University of Wisconsin professor who made the case earlier for the $130 million, 25-year cessation plan.
Fiore “didn’t just dream up” the $130 billion figure, said Bill Corr, executive director of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, adding that no evidence was offered to support the $10 billion, five-year plan.
The prosecution said in closing remarks that the remedy must be geared toward future smokers only. But out of court, Associate Attorney General Robert McCallum Jr. said the program would be available to any of the current 45 million U.S. smokers.
Because McCallum and at least two other senior officials at Justice worked for law firms that represented tobacco interests, Sens. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., and Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., and two Democratic congressmen fired off letters to Justice Inspector General Glenn Fine, seeking an investigation. It’s surely in order, so that the public can be reassured that the final outcome of the trial reflects sound law, not political deal-making.
