Avon Pays $135M to Settle Bribery Charges

Avon Products stock swooned more than 12 percent in mid-day trading after the company agreed to pay $135 million for long-standing federal charges that it paid bribes in China and other countries. Both the U.S. Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission got in the action. Avon, which calls itself the world's largest direct seller of cosmetics, agreed to pay $68 million to the Justice Department and $67 million to resolve the dispute with the SEC.