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Juul Labs has reached a $438.5 million agreement to settle an investigation by 34 states into the e-cigarette maker's marketing practices. Juul was accused of marketing its vaping products to teenagers and claiming its products helped people quit smoking cigarettes without approval from the Food and Drug Administration.
The tentative agreement also requires Juul to fund education programs and prohibits the company from marketing to teenagers.
Juul's future remains uncertain as the company is barred from selling its vaping products in the United States by the FDA.
"We think that this will go a long way in stemming the flow of youth vaping," Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said. "We are under no illusions and cannot claim that it will stop youth vaping. It continues to be an epidemic. It continues to be a huge problem. But we have essentially taken a big chunk out of what was once a market leader."
Juul did not admit to any wrongdoing and vowed to "resolve issues from the past."
"The terms of the agreement are aligned with our current business practices, which we started to implement after our companywide reset in the fall of 2019," the company said in a statement.