Ultimately, the parties reached a settlement agreement of $430 million to resolve all civil claims and criminal charges stemming from the qui tam complaint.

Federal officials emphasized that prosecutors normally prefer a plea bargain over a trial as a cheaper and more effective way of resolving complicated charges.

Such an agreement could resolve state, as well as federal charges, in return for fines and corporate reform.

The company and its subsidiaries paid the government hundreds of millions of dollars to resolve charges of filing false claims and fraudulent cost reports.

Mr. Neale said that $50 million of the settlement represented a penalty to resolve criminal charges and was not deductible.

In 1987, Beechnut paid US $25 million to resolve charges of selling adulterated apple juice in the early 1980s.

It will also seek to resolve civil charges filed earlier in the year by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The agreement was part of a compromise to resolve noncriminal charges that he misused $500,000 in Teamsters' union funds.

The $615 million penalty, one of the largest ever faced by a military contractor, resolves potential civil and criminal charges against Boeing.

International The U.S. is close to resolving charges that Japan excludes foreign companies from its vast market for car telephones and private radio systems.