Olympus to pay US$646 million to end kickback, bribe probes

New York

Olympus Corp has agreed to pay US$646 million to resolve US probes into kickbacks that it paid to doctors in the US and funnelled into bribes in Central and South America.

The company's US unit will pay US$623.2 million in the kickback case - the largest such case in American history and the most ever paid by a medical-device maker. Olympus, a maker of endoscopes involved in superbug outbreaks, won business from doctors and hospitals by providing lavish meals, balloon trips, winery tours and spa treatments.