Purdue Pharma—the manufacturer of OxyContin, the drug most often blamed for the opioid epidemic—admitted Nov. 30 that it failed to put the brakes on drug abuse and instead aggressively marketed its prescription painkillers, pleading guilty to federal criminal charges in an $8.3 billion settlement likely to end with the company’s reorganization, the Associated Press reported.
The Sacklers, one of the world’s wealthiest families, with $11.2 billion net worth according to Forbes, did not face individual criminal charges, but they were not granted immunity and prosecutors retain the right to investigate and charge them.
Family members said in a statement they acted “ethically and lawfully” and expressed “deep compassion for people who suffer from opioid addiction and abuse and hope the proposal will be implemented as swiftly as possible to help address their critical needs.” Some state attorneys general, however, have complained that the settlement fails to hold the Sacklers personally accountable.
“The federal government had the power here to put the Sacklers in jail, and they didn’t,” Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said in a statement. “Instead, they took fines and penalties that Purdue likely will never fully pay.”
Many members of Congress and health advocates have criticized the numerous federal and local government settlements with Purdue, arguing the company and its executives should pay a heftier price for its role in the opioid epidemic. Some have also suggested criminal prosecutions and financial penalties for members of the Sackler family, which have led Purdue for decades and helped to develop the company’s aggressive approach to selling painkillers.
The fact that some Sackler family members were responsible for the aggressive marketing of Oxycontin and that they withdrew $10.7 billion from the company while lawsuits loomed continues to raise questions among a number of state attorneys general.
To stem liability, Purdue filed for bankruptcy in September 2017, as part of a settlement to pay $10.1 billion to break up the company and turn it into a public benefit corporation. The bankruptcy is still pending, but as part of that proceeding an audit commissioned by Purdue found the family had withdrawn $10.7 billion from the company and put the money in family trusts and holding companies as pressure over America’s opioid epidemic mounted.
Twenty-five states, as well as members of Congress, have objected to the idea of remaking Purdue Pharma into a public benefit corporation, with future profits going toward the states and municipalities—a plan that Department of Justice attorneys have supported.
The Sackler family withdrawals in question began after Purdue's plea deal with the Justice Department to pay a $600 million penalty on a felony charge of misleading and defrauding physicians and consumers over the prescription opioid OxyContin in 2007.
Sacklers’ family attorney Daniel S. Connolly said in a statement on CNN that the amount the family has been withdrawing is public knowledge.
"These distribution numbers were known at the time the proposed settlement was agreed to by two dozen attorneys general and thousands of local governments," Connolly said.
But New York Attorney General Letitia James, who has been working to nail down how much money the Sacklers have and where they have it deposited, said in a statement that the Purdue’s own audit demonstrates the need for greater investigation.
"The fact that the Sackler family removed more than $10 billion when Purdue's OxyContin was directly causing countless addictions, hundreds of thousands of deaths, and tearing apart millions of families is further reason that we must see detailed financial records showing how much the Sacklers profited from the nation's deadly opioid epidemic," James said in a statement.
In a move to curb additional Sackler withdrawals from Purdue, the state of Arizona petitioned the Supreme Court, asking that the Sackler family be prohibited from transferring money from the company, claiming it was a strategy to avoid paying claims concerning OxyContin. The court declined to hear the case.
The company has continued to deny wrongdoing. Purdue Chairman Steve Million said the company’s settlement “avoids wasting hundreds of millions of dollars and years on protracted litigation, and instead will provide billions of dollars and critical resources to communities across the country trying to cope with the opioid crisis.”
A Sackler family spokesperson said the family hoped the bankruptcy reorganization would end its ownership of the company and hopefully liability for the Sacklers, who inherited the company from the three brothers—all doctors—who founded Purdue Pharm in 1952 after taking over a small New York drug manufacturer, remains to be seen.
The company operated under the radar until it began selling Oxycontin in 1995, a fast-acting, long-lasting pain reliever that some call morphine in a pill, The Centers for Disease Control estimates more than 450,000 people have died from opioid overdoses since 1999.
