Aug 24, 2011 16:11 GMT  ·  By

Google is expected to pay $500 million for showing ads to illegal pharmacies selling prescription drugs online. The company has been under investigation over the issue by the US Department of Justice and it seems that a conclusion has been reached.

Google has already set aside $500 million anticipating such a fine. Now, the New York Times says that regulators will announce the conclusion of the investigation.

The company is said to have settled with the government, preventing the case from going to trial, and will pay half a billion dollars to make up for its transgressions.

The issue goes back several years and has come under attention several times before. Google has been criticized over this type of ads showing up on its site and the ones it serves ads to, but it has said that it does its best to keep them from ending on on its ad network.

However, its measures were always trumped as these pharmacies found new ways of getting in.

"It’s been an ongoing, escalating cat-and-mouse game—as we and others build new safeguards and guidelines, rogue online pharmacies always try new tactics to get around those protections and illegally sell drugs on the web," Google said last year.

"Despite our best efforts—from extensive verification procedures, to automated keyword blocking, to changing our ads policies—a small percentage of pharma ads from these rogue companies is still appearing on Google," it said.

The fact that Google was under investigation was rumored a few months ago when the company revealed that it set aside $500 million on its quarterly earnings report, to settle an Department of Justice investigation.

Google did not say what the investigation was about, but it was later revealed to be linked to illegal pharma ads. Google had hoped that it would not come to this, but it looks like the company will have to shell out quite a large sum of money to put the issue behind it.

"In May 2011, in connection with a potential resolution of an investigation by the United States Department of Justice into the use of Google advertising by certain advertisers, we accrued $500 million for the three month period ended March 31, 2011," Google said in its financial report.