Chiquita agrees to fine for paying terrorists

0 Comments | USA TODAY, March, 2007 | by Edward Iwata and Donna Leinwand

Chiquita Brands International has agreed to plead guilty to a federal charge of doing business with a terrorist organization in Colombia and will pay a $25 million fine, the company said Wednesday.

Chiquita and 10 unnamed executives and employees paid $1.7 million in checks and cash from 1997 to 2004 to a "violent, right-wing organization" called the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUD), or the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, according to the Justice Department's criminal-information filing in federal court.

Chiquita's ties to the paramilitary group were disclosed by the company to the Justice Department in 2003 and were reported by the news media a year later.

Under the settlement, which must be approved by a federal judge, Chiquita will...