The largest U.S. cigar maker reportedly gave tens of thousands of dollars to police to help put suspected Cuban cigar counterfeiters out of business.

Defense attorneys allege Florida-based Altadis U.S.A. is going after local competitors so that it can monopolize the cigar market after Fidel Castro dies, the Miami Herald reported.

Altadis claims it holds the exclusive license for the U.S. trademarks for the famous Cuban cigar brands Montecristo, H. Upmann, Por Larranaga, Romeo y Julieta, Saint Luis Rey and Trinidad.

The newspaper said Altadis' European parent company, Altadis S.A., controls half the Castro government's cigar entity after buying the rights from exiled cigar-baron families. The parent company says it avoids violating the U.S. trade embargo by selling Cuban-made cigars in Europe and selling Dominican Republic-made cigars in the United States.

Defense lawyers say their clients cannot be charged with counterfeiting products with trademarks that do not legally exist in the United States, the Herald said.

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