The WSJ: "Con Artist Starred in Sting That Cost Google Millions "
Absolutely extraordinary story. A convicted felon con artist, David Whitaker, co-operated with the government to pose as an unlicensed online dealer in illegal pharmaceuticals (including steroids, human growth hormone, oxycodon, and the abortion drug RU-486). He then bought huge numbers of Google ads for the illegal sites, in blatant breach of Google’s written rules about what sorts of sites can buy advertising. Google turned a blind eye to the nature of the sties, ran the ads, and banked the money.
How guilty was Google? The article claims that “top Google executives, including co-founder Larry Page, were told about legal problems with the drug ads”. The government seized and collected “four million pages of internal emails and documents, as well as witness testimony”, but these documents will never see the light of day. Google settled out of court by agreeing to a $500 million forfeiture.
“Don’t be evil”, indeed. Astonishing.
