Google cuts mystery check to US in bid to sidestep jury trial
Alphabet's Google has preemptively paid damages to the U.S. government, an unusual move aimed at avoiding a jury trial in the Justice Department's antitrust lawsuit over its digital advertising business.
Google disclosed the payment, but not the amount, in a court filing last week that said the case should be heard and decided by a judge directly. Without a monetary damages claim, Google argued, the government has no right to a jury trial.
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Offering CollegeCourseWebsiteIndian School of BusinessISB Product ManagementVisitIIT DelhiCertificate Programme in Data Science & Machine LearningVisitIndian School of BusinessProfessional Certificate in Product ManagementVisit The Justice Department, which has not said if it will accept the payment, declined to comment on the filing. Google asserted that its check, which it said covered its alleged overcharges for online ads, allows it to sidestep a jury trial whether or not the government takes it.
The Justice Department filed the case last year with Virginia and other states, alleging Google was stifling competition for advertising technology. The government has said Google should be forced to sell its ad manager suite.
Google, which has denied the allegations, said in a statement that the Justice Department «manufactured a damages claim at the last minute in an attempt to secure a jury trial.» Without disclosing the size of its payment, Google said that after months of discovery, the Justice Department could only point
