Popular French cement maker, Lafarge pleaded guilty in U.S. court on Tuesday to a charge that it made payments to groups specified as terrorists by the United States, including Islamic State, so the company could keep operating in Syria.
The acceptance in Brooklyn federal court marked the first time a company has pleaded guilty in the United States to charges of providing material support to a terrorist organization, as it is not something the country sees often.
Lafarge agreed to pay $778 million to the United States Court in forfeiture and fines as part of the plea agreement.
The cement company said it “deeply regretted” the events and “accepted responsibility for the individual executives involved”.
U.S. prosecutors said Lafarge and its Syrian subsidiary Lafarge Cement Syria paid Islamic State and al Nusra Front, through intermediaries.
According to their findings, they paid approximately $5.92 million between 2013 and 2014 to allow employees, customers, and suppliers to pass through checkpoints after civil conflict broke out in Syria.
With that payment, they were able to get $70 million in sales revenue from a plant it operated in northern Syria.
After the court proceedings, Breon Peace, the top federal prosecutor in Brooklyn, told reporters:
“Lafarge made a deal with the devil. This conduct by a Western corporation was appalling and has no precedent or justification.”
Lafarge eventually evacuated the cement plant in September 2014, U.S. prosecutors said. At that point, Islamic State took possession of the remaining cement and sold it for the equivalent of $3.21 million, prosecutors said.
None of the company’s executives were charged in the United States. Monaco said that French authorities have arrested some of the executives involved but did not provide names.
