Susan Buffett's estate tax bill is $95.6 million

OMAHA — The estate tax bills for Susan Thompson Buffett's estate will total around $95.6 million, tax tables and experts say.

Buffett was the wife of Warren Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway of Omaha. She died July 29, 2004, at the age of 72.

Most of Buffett's $2.76 billion estate was donated to the Buffett Foundation and other charitable organizations, leaving $135 million to be taxed, according to figures filed with the Douglas County Court.

According to tax tables and government experts, about $75.4 million will be paid in federal estate taxes, as well as an estimated $15 million in Nebraska estate taxes and $5.2 million in Douglas County inheritance taxes. She gave $59.7 million to relatives and friends.

Maris family settles with Anheuser-Busch

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The family of former home run king Roger Maris and Anheuser-Busch Cos. on Tuesday settled a multibillion-dollar defamation lawsuit they filed in response to the brewer's termination of the family's beer distributorship.

The sides did not disclose terms of the settlement, which came as jurors deliberated for a second day after a three-week trial. The agreement encompasses the defamation lawsuit and a $50 million jury award that the Marises had won against the nation's largest brewer in 2001 over a wrongful termination lawsuit.

Maris's relatives accused the brewer of defamation after company officials said the family's beer distributorship was deficient and sold repackaged, out-of-date beer. The family was seeking $5 billion in damages after it had its contract with the brewer canceled in 1997.

USDA fines Nash Finch for distributing adulterated food

OMAHA — Grocery company Nash Finch has been sentenced to pay a fine of $400,000 after pleading guilty to misdemeanor counts of transporting adulterated meat and poultry products.

Nash Finch, which pleaded guilty to the two counts last August, has paid a civil penalty to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for nearly $33,000 and has made a charitable donation of food to a food bank worth $100,000, U.S. Attorney Mike Heavican said. The company has also begun a sanitation audit program, which was required by the plea agreement, and has paid the $400,000 fine, Heavican said.

The shipments of more than 30 tons of adulterated food were made in 1999 from a warehouse in Omaha to the company's reclamation center in Sioux Falls, S.D.

KPMG near agreement with feds on abusive tax shelters

KPMG LLP is nearing agreement on a deal with federal prosecutors that would avert an indictment against the nation's fourth-largest accounting firm for its sale of abusive tax shelters, the Washington Post reported, quoting unidentified sources.

The agreement calls for KPMG to pay between $300 million and $500 million and to open up its operations to independent review as a condition for avoiding prosecution, according to people briefed on the deal.

KPMG officials aggressively peddled tax-avoidance strategies to wealthy clients, ultimately helping them create more than $1.4 billion in tax losses, according to an April 2005 report by the Senate permanent subcommittee on investigations.

— From news wires