And I just thought they grew bananas

US Charges Chiquita With Doing Business With Terror Grp; Co Confirms $25M Fine Payment Under Plea Pact With Gov - DJ (12.75 -0.25) -Update-
Co was charged Wednesday with doing business with a terrorist organization - a right-wing militia in Colombia. Court documents filed Wednesday are an indication the co has settled a lengthy Justice Department investigation into its financial dealings with the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia. Federal prosecutors said the Cincinnati-based co and several unnamed high-ranking corporate officers did business with the group, which is described in court documents as a violent right-wing organization that the U.S. has designated as a terrorist group. Details of the settlement were not included in court documents. But Chiquita said last month it had set aside $25 mln to resolve the dispute. The co said the investigation involved a former subsidiary that made payments under pressure to ensure the safety of its employees. The payments were approved by senior executives at Chiquita, prosecutors wrote in court documents. Corporate books were kept to conceal the deals, prosecutors said. Prosecutors said Chiquita began paying the right-wing AUC after a meeting in 1997. "No later than in or about September 2000, defendant Chiquita's senior executives knew that the corporation was paying AUC and that the AUC was a violent paramilitary organization," prosecutors wrote in Wednesday's court filing. The co also did business with the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, according to prosecutors.

Damn! The next thing we'll hear is that Disney did business with the Cali' cartel.