The United States Department of Justice has been investigating whether Google has been displaying ads of illegal or unlicensed online pharmacies. According to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Google has set aside $500 million to settle with the Federal investigators most likely over this case.
Included in the investigation were the United States attorney’s office in Rhode Island, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Justice Department.
Google says that it has been trying to clean up it's advertising program by removing these illegal pharmacies, but the violators seem to be increasing in number and difficult to locate and remove.