MIAMI (AP) — The head of the nation's third-largest cigarette maker denied Friday that the company lied to customers about the health risks of smoking, and said costly legal battles have hurt the firm's ability to pay a large punitive award.
Nicholas Brookes, chairman and chief executive of Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., also said that since he took over in 1995, the company has not manipulated nicotine levels to keep smokers hooked.
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"I can categorically tell you that I have not, nor has anyone else, lied to the American public since (1995)," Brookes said in his second day of testimony in a class-action lawsuit filed by sick Florida smokers.