U.S. settles anthrax lawsuit for $50M

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., Oct. 31 (UPI) -- A Florida woman whose husband died in a 2001 anthrax attack will receive $50 million from the U.S. government, her attorney said.

Maureen Stevens of Lantana had sued, alleging lax security at the federal government's biological weapons research laboratory in Maryland led to the anthrax attack on American Media Inc. in Boca Raton, Fla., that killed her husband, National Enquirer photo editor Robert Stevens and four others.

Attorney Jason Weisser said the settlement, which must be formally approved by the U.S. Justice Department, was hashed out last week in mediation, The Palm Beach (Fla.) Post reported Monday.

Weisser said the trial would have also tested FBI claims that the attacks were carried out solely by Bruce Ivins, a researcher at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Md.

Ivins killed himself in 2008, just days before he was to be charged in connection with five anthrax-laced letters sent to the National Enquirer, congressional offices in Washington and news organizations in New York City.