Law360, New York (October 02, 2012, 8:15 PM ET) -- A Virginia federal judge on Tuesday ordered Abbott Laboratories to hand over $700 million for criminal misconduct as part of a $1.6 billion settlement it inked earlier this year over off-label marketing, kickbacks and false claims related to anti-seizure drug Depakote.
As a result of Abbott’s guilty plea on a misdemeanor count of misbranding, U.S. District Judge Samuel G. Wilson fined the drugmaker $500 million, the second-largest such penalty on record for conduct involving a single drug, and directed it to forfeit about $200 million. That...