NEW YORK—Lumber Liquidators will pay more than $13 million for illegally importing hardwood flooring, after the company pleaded guilty to environmental crimes last year.

The Justice Department said Lumber Liquidators made hardwood floors in China from illegally cut Mongolian oak trees in Russia. Those trees are needed to protect endangered Siberian tigers and Amur leopards because their prey eats the acorns from them, the Justice Department said.

Lumber Liquidators, which was sentenced Monday in federal court, said in a statement that it is "pleased to put this legacy issue behind us."

Lumber Liquidators will pay $7.8 million in criminal fines, more than $1.2 million in community service payments and nearly $970,000 in criminal forfeiture. It will also pay about $3.2 million through a related civil forfeiture. The company also agreed to a five-year probation period.

The Justice Department said the penalty is the biggest for timber trafficking under the Lacey Act.

The company pleaded guilty to environmental crimes in October. Its plea agreement was unrelated to the controversy over some of its laminate flooring from China, which the CBS TV news show "60 Minutes" had reported contains high levels of the carcinogen formaldehyde.

Lumber Liquidators of Toano, Va., sells flooring at more than 370 stores around the country.

Shares of Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc. rose 45 cents, or 3.5%, to close at $13.36 Monday.

Copyright 2016 the Associated Press

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 01, 2016 19:05 ET (00:05 GMT)

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