WASHINGTON (AFP) - Top tobacco companies were set to aggressively counter US government charges they lied to the public about the health risks of smoking in a 280-billion-dollar lawsuit that could bankrupt the industry.
In the largest-ever US civil racketeering case, the government accuses tobacco companies of colluding for decades to hide evidence of the health hazards of smoking, marketing directly to teenagers to win lifelong smokers and lying by suggesting the relative safety of "light" cigarettes.
Defendants include Philip Morris USA, which controls about half of the US tobacco market; RJ Reynolds Tobacco; Loews Corp's Lorillard Tobacco; Brown and Williamson, which is part of British American Tobacco PLC; and the Vector Group's Liggett Group.
All are being sued under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) act, which was intended to hinder Mafia infiltration of business.
The companies have strongly denied the charges and have pledged a determined defense. The trial is expected to take six months.
In an opening argument before a packed Washington courtroom Tuesday, government prosecutor Frank Marine said "this case is all about fraud, ... half-truths and deceptions that continue to this day."
"If it's money obtained by fraud, it's not their money," Marine said, his voice rising emotionally.
"Why did the defendants pursue this course of action? Money, pure and simple," argued Marine.
The defendants have "fraudulently maintained confusion about the causal relationship between smoking and health problems."
Furthermore, they "developed a unified strategy" to forge an industry-wide response to health concerns, "falsely claiming the causal relationship between smoking and disease was an open question."
Marine detailed 145 specific racketeering accusations against the industry, charging among other things, that the defendants "victimized the youth of America."
"The defendants' marketing in part causes teens to underestimate the risks of smoking," he said. While denying it was their policy, "the defendants aimed their marketing at adolescents, and it works."
The case, filed with great fanfare during the presidency of Democrat Bill Clinton, took five years to come to trial.
If the government wins, the tobacco industry -- valued below the penalty sought -- would face the prospect of bankruptcy. But industry representatives are confident they will prevail.
For the government, "it's not enough to prove that fraud happened in the past," said William Ohlemeyer, the in-house attorney for Altria, the parent company of Philip Morris.
To win the RICO case, Justice Department attorneys must also show in the trial that fraud -- which the industry disputes -- will also happen in the future.
Any problems in the past have "already been solved," Ohlemeyer said, referring to the 1998 agreement with the states.
Industry officials argue that their practices have changed dramatically since a landmark 1998 agreement with state governments over smoking-related health care costs.
The industry agreed then to pay the states 206 billion dollars over 25 years, as well as adhere to strict advertising limits, including a ban on television ads, billboards and sponsorship of sporting events.
But Marine said tobacco companies have repeatedly violated the 1998 deal.
"Their claim of change won't stack up against the totality of the evidence," Marine said, arguing the 280 billion-dollar penalty would be an appropriate "economic disincentive" to continue to commit crimes.
Judge Gladys Kessler, who alone will decide the civil case, also let it go forward although the government's right to seek the 280 billion dollars under the RICO act is under appeal.