Olympia - 6.18.03 - Attorney General Christine Gregoire said today Washington state will receive $1.7 million from tobacco companies in a new settlement between states and the industry.

Under the settlement the nation's tobacco manufacturers will pay the states $160 million. The bulk of the money will come from Brown & Williamson, the nation's third largest tobacco manufacturer.

Pyramid schemes, which are an old consumer fraud device, are reappearing throughout Washington state. Based on consumer complaints, pyramid scheme operators are preying on the elderly, immigrants, church members, employees of major corporations, and even police and fire department personnel.

OLYMPIA - June 18, 2001 - Ten anti-tobacco programs each received a $500 grant to expand their tobacco prevention efforts, Attorney General Christine Gregoire announced. Each grant is part of a $5,000 award Gregoire received in 2001 from the American Legacy Foundation for her leadership in the 1998 settlement against the nation's largest tobacco companies.

SEATTLE – Attorney General Rob McKenna today announced the hiring of two attorneys to fight high-tech fraud, identity theft and other scams targeting consumers.

Katherine Tassi and Shannon Smith will join the Consumer Protection Division in Seattle starting Aug. 16. Both have worked for the Attorney General’s Office in other capacities.

SEATTLE - June 11, 1998 - King County Superior Court Judge George Finkle has granted the state's request to use key portions of a document the state claims will provide strong evidence of wrongdoing by the nation's largest tobacco company, RJR Tobacco. The state expects to use the document as evidence in its upcoming trial against the tobacco industry.

OLYMPIA –The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington today granted summary judgment in the state’s favor on one claim in a lawsuit filed by the state in March 2003 to stop the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) from shipping transuranic mixed waste to Hanford from other DOE sites around the country.

Olympia - May 24, 1999 - State Attorney General Christine Gregoire announced today that Washington state will receive an additional $100 million from the multi-state settlement between state attorneys general and the tobacco industry. The second and final allocation lifts Washington’s total award from the settlement’s Strategic Contribution Fund to $494.9 million, which is the highest amount in the nation.

SEATTLE - May 5, 1998 - King County Superior Court Judge, George A. Finkle, today denied Washington state's request to compel the tobacco industry to turn over the 39,000 industry documents recently released to Congress and the State of Minnesota. The industry had released the internal memos, research summaries, and other sensitive industry documents last month in response to a subpoena by House Commerce Committee Chairman Thomas Bliley (R-VA).

OLYMPIA - Attorney General Rob McKenna today filed suit against a Canadian seafood supplier and its officers for allegedly conspiring with a convicted poacher to steal more than 65 tons of geoduck from South Puget Sound.

The civil lawsuit, filed today in Thurston County Superior Court under the state's Criminal Profiteering Act, seeks millions of dollars in damages and penalties from Clear Bay Fisheries, Inc., and two of Clear Bay's corporate officers, Jeffrey Stephen Albulet and Julian Ng.

Olympia - April 17, 2000 - Washington state today will receive $73.19 million in restitution from the tobacco industry. The payment is the first of the perpetual annual payments mandated by the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement between state attorneys general and the major tobacco manufacturers.

Washington’s annual restitution payments are due each April. In addition, Washington has already received two of five initial payments, due each January through 2003, for approximately $95 million.