American Express has agreed to pay more than $247 million to resolve criminal and civil investigations into alleged deceptive marketing and fraudulent sales tactics related to its wire transfer and credit card products, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
The total settlement includes a $77.7 million criminal fine, $60.7 million in forfeiture under a non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, and a $108.7 million civil penalty. The company noted that after applying credits, it will pay approximately $230 million.
The criminal settlement addresses alleged misleading marketing of two wire transfer products—Payroll Rewards and Premium Wire—while the civil penalty resolves allegations of deceptive credit card marketing and recordkeeping violations….