Juul settles massive nationwide probe into youth vaping for $438.5M
Enlarge / A young man wears a shirt that reads DITCHJUUL while James Monsees, co-founder and chief product officer at JUUL Labs Inc., testifies before the House Economic and Consumer Policy Subcommittee, which is examining JUUL's role in the youth nicotine epidemic, on July 25, 2019, in Washington, DC. (credit: Getty | Mark Wilson)
Disgraced e-cigarette-maker Juul has agreed to pay $438.5 million to 33 states and Puerto Rico to settle an investigation into whether the vaping giant deceptively marketed its products and intentionally targeted children and teens, who are most vulnerable to nicotine addiction.
The mammoth settlement comes as the company continues its fight for survival with the US Food and Drug Administration. In June, the FDA made the dramatic move of denying marketing authorization for all Juul products, effectively forcing the e-cigarette maker off the US market. Juul quickly won administrative stays, though, and the FDA announced in July that it would re-review Juul's products. In the meantime, the company is allowed to continue selling its products, but its ultimate fate remains precarious.
The legal settlement and regulatory uncertainty are the latest fallout from Juul's alleged role in fueling a nationwide "epidemic" of youth vaping, which peaked in 2019. Juul became notorious for appealing to children and teens as vaping among middle and high school students skyrocketed.