Krones AG, a German maker of packaging and bottling machines, will pay $125 million to settle a U.S. criminal probe and related civil litigation over its role in a $685 million fraud at Le-Nature's Inc, a bottled water company that went bankrupt in 2006, Reuters reported yesterday. The U.S. Department of Justice said Krone's U.S. unit, Krones Inc, will pay $15 million and enter a non-prosecution agreement to resolve the criminal probe. The Franklin, Wisconsin-based unit will also pay $110 million to enable fraud victims and Le-Nature's creditors to recover some of their losses.
