Takeaways by Bloomberg AI
- More than two decades after Wall Street started issuing bonds backed by legal-settlement payments from cigarette companies, one batch has been driven into default.
- The default was triggered by Nassau County Tobacco Settlement Corp.’s inability to make a $36 million payment on debt due to a decline in cigarette shipments, which has been plunging at a faster pace than expected.
- Analysts expect many tobacco-bond issuers to be unable to keep up with their payments as smoking continues to decline, with some $9.7 billion of tobacco bonds already rated as likely to default.
Bloomberg Markets
By Martin Z Braun
June 17, 2026