Take a look at any large corporation's balance sheet. They usually have short-term cash (basically bank accounts) and short-term cash equivalents (very liquid assets like gov't bonds).
So basically you are correct. The CFO devises a plan to pay that fine by pulling cash from a number of different sources.
I also assume that the gov't is paid with either a single payment or a couple payments. I can't remember the context in which I saw it, but there was a copy of a check posted on a website for several billion dollars. Looked like any other corporate check (with a few more signatures on it).
Since this kind of money can disturb a bank (a bank lends a multiple of what it has floating) wouldn't it be "cleaner" if the government just opened an account at the same bank and had the money transferred there?
So basically you are correct. The CFO devises a plan to pay that fine by pulling cash from a number of different sources.
I also assume that the gov't is paid with either a single payment or a couple payments. I can't remember the context in which I saw it, but there was a copy of a check posted on a website for several billion dollars. Looked like any other corporate check (with a few more signatures on it).