France24
French cement maker Lafarge pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a US charge that it made payments to groups designated as terrorists by the United States, including the Islamic State (IS) group, agreeing to pay almost $800 million in fines and forfeitures.
The admission 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 organisation.
Lafarge, which became part of Swiss-listed Holcim in 2015, is also facing charges of complicity in crimes against humanity in Paris for keeping a factory running in Syria after a conflict broke out in 2011.
Lafarge agreed to forfeit $687 million (698 million euros) and pay a fine of $90 million in its guilty plea.
The cement maker previously admitted after an internal investigation that its Syrian subsidiary paid armed groups to help protect staff at the plant. But it had denied charges that it was complicit in crimes against humanity…
