WTF? Bernie bribes his way out of bribery case?

[Some Gump]

Is it me, or is that just a bit daft?

Apparently, bernie has reached a100m USD settlement to make his bribery trial go away.

So, he's been taken to court by Munich, i.e the state entity, under accusation of bribing a banker. The case isn't being brought by the bank as damages, rather it's the state saying "you bribed that guy, bribery is illegal, go to jail".

Now, (as far as i can tell from the reports thus far), bernie has not been proven innocent, rather he's agreed to end the trial in return for 100m to Munich. In my book, that is payng money to someone in return for the outcome you want - kind of like a bribe. Surely if he was innocent, he'd argue his case? 100m is a lot of money after all.

So, can you bribe a state body to attone for bribery, or did i get the wrong end of the stick?

[Some Gump]

I know it's different, but it's kind of like making 100k selling drugs, then agreeing to pay a 10 grand fine and keeping the rest...