The U.S. Department of Justice announced that the American e-commerce giant eBay agreed to pay $59 million to settle allegations of illegally selling thousands of disc and pharmaceutical capsule manufacturing machines through its website.

eBay confirmed reaching a settlement with the Department of Justice, while denying the department's allegations against it. The settlement did not include any admission of wrongdoing by eBay.

The U.S. Department of Justice says that eBay failed to comply with certain requirements of the U.S. Drug Supply Chain Security Act, which regulates the trade of some pharmaceutical manufacturing equipment by identifying buyers, recording sales, and reporting them to federal authorities.

The department said in a press release: "When a mold or stamp simulating controlled substances is used, pill machines can produce counterfeit tablets indistinguishable from legitimate pharmaceuticals, including pills sometimes laced with fentanyl."

U.S. investigations also revealed that the company sold hundreds of pill production machines as well as other products that enable manufacturing pills mimicking legitimate drug products, and many buyers of these machines were prosecuted for manufacturing and trafficking counterfeit drugs.