(Wine-Searcher) - Elgin offers up $325,000 as a mea culpa for breaking Tied House rules.

As the Washington DC-based Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) ramps up its trade practice-enforcement investigations, more wholesalers are appearing on their radar for foul play and Tied House infractions. The Tied House Laws were instated to make sure no one tier of the wine business has undue influence on another.

On November 15, the Illinois-based Elgin Beverage Company paid $325,000 to the TTB in order to be pardoned for making a $10,000 payment to multiple retailers though a third party marketing company to carry and promote its malt-beverage brands to the exclusion of competing brands, according to a TTB press release.