Just as Apple (AAPL) is forced to close retail stores around the world because of the coronavirus pandemic, it has been hit by a $1 billion blow to its finances.

Axar.az reports that the French Competition Authority announced on Monday it is fining Apple €1.1 billion ($1.2 billion) over restrictions it placed in contracts with wholesalers. That's the biggest antitrust fine the French authority has ever levied.

The country's antitrust regulator alleged that Apple and two of its wholesalers, Tech Data and Ingram Micro, "agreed not to compete" and as a result prevented distributors from competing with each other, "thereby sterilizing the wholesale market for Apple products."