Olympia –  Settlement of federal criminal conspiracy charges against a national pharmaceutical company over its drug-marketing practices will lead to the return of about $790,000 to the state’s Medicaid fund, Attorney General Christine Gregoire said today.

The settlement with TAP Pharmaceutical Products, Inc. of Chicago, Ill., will require the company to reimburse Medicaid programs in all 50 states a total of $56.7 million. In addition, the company will be required to return $524 million to the federal government, and pay a substantial criminal fine.

OLYMPIA - Attorney General Christine Gregoire today announced a multi-state settlement that requires one of the country's largest sweepstakes companies to pay restitution to Washington consumers and dramatically change its sweepstakes marketing practices nationwide.

United States Sales Corp. of Northridge, Calif., which does business as United States Purchasing Exchange (USPE), reached the agreement with Gregoire and the attorneys general of 47 other states and the District of Columbia.

Seattle - The Attorney General’s Office today urged consumers to consider carefully whether to accept or opt out of a proposed settlement for a private class action lawsuit with Publishers Clearinghouse (PCH). Consumers who do not opt out are automatically covered by the terms of the settlement.   

"What’s being mailed out appears very confusing," said Assistant Attorney General Regina Cullen. "It uses a lot of big legal words and very small print."

SEATTLE - Attorney General Rob McKenna today announced a multi-state settlement with a California-based marketer of Internet directory listings. Yellow Pages, Inc., will pay $525,000 to resolve allegations of deceptive marketing practices brought by Washington and 26 other states.

PIERCE COUNTY – A Pierce County woman today pled guilty to two counts of identity theft in the first degree, one count of theft in the first degree and six counts of theft in the second degree. The case was filed in Pierce County Superior Court by the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit in August 2005.

Washington helped lead multi-state investigation concerning improper drug marketing

OLYMPIA – Attorney General Rob McKenna and Department of Social and Health Services Secretary Robin Arnold-Williams today announced that Washington’s Medicaid program will recover more than $3 million from a settlement with drug manufacturer Schering-Plough Corporation that resolves allegations that the company improperly marketed several products.

OLYMPIA- Communities can feel a little safer today as key crime legislation requested by Attorney General Rob McKenna to protect communities against sex offenders and to combat meth crimes becomes law Wednesday.

NEW METH LAWS

OLYMPIA --- State officials today expressed their disappointment with the U.S. District Court's ruling striking down the tobacco product sampling ban passed during the 2006 legislative session.

Spokane – The state of Washington and the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation received news of a significant victory today in federal court.

The United States' Superfund law that governs cleanup of contaminated sites applies to Teck Cominco Metals of Canada, regardless of the fact that the pollution the company poured into Lake Roosevelt originated in Canada.

This decision was filed today in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Seattle. The court upheld an earlier decision by Federal District Court Judge Alan McDonald.