Coca-Cola settles fraud lawsuit

July 4, 2008

Coca-Cola Co. agreed to settle a fraud lawsuit in which investors said they lost $1.75 billion after the world's largest soft-drink maker withheld information to boost its stock price. The $137.5 million settlement, filed yesterday in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, ends an eight-year battle with the company. "We maintain these allegations are without merit and no admittance of wrongdoing is a part of this settlement," the Atlanta-based company said in an e-mailed statement. "At this time, we have determined that it is in the best interest of our business to close this matter and put this distraction behind us." Investors claimed Japanese bottlers were forced to take excess syrup to boost sales, a practice called channel stuffing. The method helped Coca-Cola overstate income and artificially inflate its share price, according to the complaint filed by a union pension fund.