Never underestimate the staying power of big tobacco.
In 2006, U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler ordered the nation’s largest cigarette makers to publicly admit that they had lied for decades about the dangers of smoking.
The basis for the punishment: Testimony from 162 witnesses, a nine-month bench trial and thousands of findings by the judge that defendants engaged in what the largest public health organizations in the country have called a massive campaign of fraud.
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The case is 13-5028, U.S. versus Philip Morris USA.
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Associated Press writer Michael Felberbaum in Richmond, Virginia, contributed to this report.
