Seeking to forestall an indictment, Wal-Mart Stores is in settlement talks with federal prosecutors who are investigating whether company officials knew that its janitorial contractors were using illegal immigrants to clean its stores, lawyers familiar with the investigation said. on Aug. 4. The settlement talks come nine months after federal prosecutors in Pennsylvania told Wal-Mart that it was the target of a grand jury investigation into the use of hundreds of illegal immigrants at its stores. On Oct. 23, federal officials rounded up 250 illegal immigrants at 60 Wal-Mart stores in 21 states. The talks were first reported in The Wall Street Journal on Aug. 4. Lawyers familiar with the investigation said a settlement could cost several million dollars.

James L. Linsey, a lawyer who has sued Wal-Mart on behalf of immigrant janitors, estimates that Wal-Mart used thousands of illegal immigrants to clean more than 1,000 of its stores. Under federal law, Wal-Mart faces a fine of up to $10,000 for each illegal immigrant hired. Wal-Mart officials continued to maintain on Aug. 4 that senior executives did not know until the October raids that cleaning contractors were employing illegal immigrants. Gus Whitcomb, a Wal-Mart spokesman, said the company was cooperating with prosecutors. “We reiterate, as we have from day one, that our senior management team knew nothing about the employment practices of the contractors until the government contacted us seeking our cooperation.”

(By Permission, The New York Times)