PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND (AP) — Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island will pay $20 million but avoid criminal charges following a federal investigation into improper lobbying of stage legislators by its executives.

Under an agreement announced Thursday by US Attorney Robert Clark Corrente, Blue Cross will cooperate with prosecutors in a continuing investigation, accept increased oversight for two years and acknowledge responsibility for the conduct of its executives. Four Blue Cross executives left the company Tuesday.

The agreement says Blue Cross executives lobbied three former state lawmakers for legislative favors, in total, paying them hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The three legislators include former House Majority Leader Gerard Martineau and former Sen. John Celona, who have both pleaded guilty to corruption charges for supporting bills the insurer supported and working to defeat legislation it opposed.

Corrente identified the third lawmaker as a former Senate president who received $400,000 in commissions from Blue Cross as an insurance broker. Former Senate President William Irons is the subject of an ethics complaint for his work as an insurance broker for Blue Cross. He has not been charged with any wrongdoing. His attorney did not immediatly return calls for comment.

Jim Purcell, the president and CEO of Blue Cross of Rhode Island, said the company gad already made significant internal changes, including new ethics and integrity classes for its board of directors and employees. The executive management team has also been replaced.

"We're very satisfied that no criminal charges have been brought against us," Purcell said in a telephone interview. "We're hoping to focus now on the future rather than the past."

The $20 million payment will be placed into a trust and used to fund affordable health care programs. The trust will be administered by The Rhode Island Foundation, a private philanthropic organisation.

The agreement does not protect individual Blue Cross executives from indictment, Corrente said.