Ranked: Companies With the Biggest U.S. Fines (2020–2024)

Ranked: Companies With the Biggest U.S. Fines (2020–2024)

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U.S. authorities handed out more than $250 billion in corporate penalties between 2020 and 2024, an amount larger than the current GDP of New Zealand.

The infographic above ranks the 30 companies hit with the highest U.S. fines over that period.

Data for this visualization comes from Protecht Group which references Good Jobs First’s violation database.

It tracks every publicly announced civil or criminal case brought by U.S. federal agencies, the Department of Justice, and state attorneys general.

Their database includes non-American companies fined by U.S. authorities. Parent companies accrue penalties for subsidiaries.

Ranked: 50 Most-Fined Companies by U.S. Authorities

At the top of the list of most-fined companies, 3M attracted $18.7 billion in penalties from U.S. authorities in the last four years.

Rank	Parent Company	Fines Paid (2020–2024)	# of Fines (2020–2024)
1	3M	$18.7B	48
2	Johnson & Johnson	$18.0B	24
3	PG&E Corp.	$16.1B	61
4	Bayer	$13.2B	25
5	FTX Trading Ltd & Alameda Research LLC	$12.7B	1
6	Binance Holdings	$11.4B	4
7	Wells Fargo	$8.9B	44
8	McKesson	$8.5B	9
9	Purdue Pharma	$8.3B	1
10	Walgreens Boots Alliance	$7.6B	36
11	Cardinal Health	$7.2B	11
12	Cencora Inc.	$7.1B	7
13	Allianz	$6.8B	8
14	Teva Pharmaceutical Industries	$6.1B	17
15	CVS Health	$5.6B	103
16	Goldman Sachs	$4.9B	27
17	Terraform Labs PTE, Ltd.	$4.5B	1
18	Cummins	$4.1B	18
19	TD Bank	$3.8B	25
20	AbbVie	$3.7B	15
21	JPMorgan Chase	$3.7B	42
22	Walmart	$3.6B	147
23	Boeing	$3.6B	30
24	Mercedes-Benz Group	$3.1B	10
25	Kroger	$2.9B	109
26	Lexington Law & CreditRepair.com	$2.7B	1
27	Blue Cross Blue Shield Association	$2.7B	1
28	Endo International	$2.6B	8
29	Danske Bank	$2.4B	2
30	Glencore	$2.4B	4
31	Meta	$2.4B	13
32	UBS	$2.2B	20
33	GSK plc	$2.2B	2
34	Navient	$2.2B	8
35	Genesis Global Holdco	$2.0B	1
36	Hawaiian Electric Industries	$2.0B	4
37	Mallinckrodt	$1.9B	3
38	Perfectus Aluminium	$1.8B	1
39	Sempra Energy	$1.8B	27
40	Alphabet Inc.	$1.8B	24
41	Novartis	$1.7B	10
42	McKinsey	$1.7B	9
43	Mirror Trading International	$1.7B	1
44	Hyundai Motor	$1.7B	14
45	Indivior PLC	$1.5B	7
46	Juul Labs	$1.4B	12
47	Berkshire Hathaway	$1.3B	503
48	RTX Corporation	$1.3B	14
49	Bank of America	$1.3B	45
50	Gemini Trust Company	$1.2B	2

The bulk of this is a $12.5 billion settlement in 2024 to help clean up “forever chemicals” from America’s water systems.

3M was a major manufacturer of PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) found in products like firefighting foam, non-stick coatings, and stain-resistant fabrics.

These chemicals are notoriously persistent in the environment, earning the nickname “forever chemicals.”

Major Environment Disasters Culminate in Major Fines

Across decades, 3M released PFAS into water supplies through direct manufacturing and improper disposal practices.

This led to widespread contamination of public water systems, triggering lawsuits from municipalities and water providers.

Then there’s utility giant PG&E, ranking third overall, paying $16.1 billion spread across 61 separate cases.

The bulk of those fines stem from deadly California wildfires linked to its equipment.

Meanwhile, Cummins and Mercedes-Benz faced hefty Clean Air Act settlements over diesel-emissions devices.

Opioid Reckoning Drives Sky-High Fines in Healthcare

Seven of the top 15 companies are in the broader healthcare space, led by Johnson & Johnson, McKesson, and Walgreens Boots Alliance.

These firms agreed to multibillion-dollar settlements to resolve claims that their marketing or distribution practices helped fuel the opioid epidemic.

Purdue Pharma’s single $8.3 billion fine (negotiated in 2020) shows how regulators bundled years of alleged misconduct into one historic payout.

One-Off Mega Fines Hit Crypto and Big Finance

Unlike healthcare and utilities, crypto platforms incurred huge but infrequent penalties.

The most famous is: bankrupt exchange FTX and its affiliate Alameda Research. They face a $12.7 billion claw-back, while Terraform Labs will pay $4.5 billion after the SEC ruled its tokens were unregistered securities.

Another crypto exchange, Binance agreed to pay $11.4 billion across four anti-money-laundering cases.

Also not spared: traditional banks. Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and TD Bank collectively owe more than $21 billion for consumer-protection, trading, and sanctions breaches.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

If you enjoyed today’s post, check out The Companies Benefiting the Most From U.S. Taxpayer Support on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.

• Source: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/ranked-companies-biggest-u-s-fines-2020-2024/