Attorney General Alan Wilson announced today that South Carolina has received $66,833,057.18 as its share of the annual payment from the tobacco Master Settlement Agreement (MSA).
The MSA, reached in 1998, involved the Attorney General’s Office and 45 other states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories settling claims with the four major U.S. cigarette manufacturers at the time. This agreement stands as the largest financial recovery in legal history. Since its signing in November 1998, approximately 50 additional tobacco companies have joined the MSA and are also bound by its terms.
The settlement imposes significant restrictions on the tobacco industry’s advertising and marketing practices. Additionally, it provides participating states with annual payments in perpetuity to help offset healthcare costs and other damages resulting from tobacco use. In South Carolina, the majority of this annual payment is allocated to the S.C. Department of Health and Human Services to support the state’s Medicaid program.
The Attorney General’s Office is responsible for enforcing the tobacco statutes enacted in accordance with the MSA. It also collaborates with attorneys general across the country to actively and successfully enforce the provisions of the agreement.
Since the MSA was established in 1998, South Carolina has now received a cumulative total of $2,051,394,888.35 in tobacco settlement payments.
