What's a Few Billion Between Such Good Friends?

Deeper Cuts Had Been Sought in Tobacco Case
U.S. prosecutors had been told to slash their request for sanctions on the industry to as low as $6billion, sources say

But on the morning of June 7, the day of the government's summation, the trial team was told to cut the demand still further, to $6 billion, the sources said. After a heated lunch-hour meeting — at which lawyers told senior staff that they couldn't credibly propose $6 billion — they were cleared to ask federal Judge Gladys Kessler for a $10-billion program, the sources said.

The $10-billion proposal, made public that afternoon, sparked outrage among anti-smoking activists and Democratic lawmakers, who claimed that political appointees in the Justice Department improperly interfered to protect tobacco companies from a big hit. At the request of several lawmakers, the department's Office of Professional Responsibility has opened an investigation into the sudden reduction in the government's demand.

Senior officials, led by Associate Atty. Gen. Robert McCallum, [former R.J. Reynolds lawyer] the department's No. 3 leader, have said the change was entirely proper. They say it reflects the legal realities facing the government after a federal appeals court limited remedies they could seek under civil provisions of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO.

To government lawyers, however, it appeared that the real "object of the game was to get the number down … as low as possible" and find a legal rationale later, a person close to the trial team said.

Those R.J Reynolds lawyers are such softies.