WATCH – ADDICTION FOR PROFITS –
March 25, 2021 – Purdue had allegedly paid doctors to write more opioid prescriptions, according to the three federal criminal charges the company pleaded guilty to in November. Purdue was to pay more than $8 billion and agreed to close down the company.
The company didn’t have $8 billion in cash, so Purdue agreed to dissolve itself and use its assets to create a new “public benefit company” controlled by a trust or similar entity designed for the benefit of the American public. The plan was swiftly criticized by dozens of state attorneys general.
Members of the Sackler family have made a fortune off of the sales of Oxycontin. In October, they paid $225 million in damages, but did not take responsibility for the opioid crisis.
Family members have already paid $225 million under an initial settlement framework to satisfy their civil settlement with the US Department of Justice, and persons associated with the Sackler entities have agreed to be “prohibited from engaging in the manufacturing or sale of opioids, subject to exceptions to be agreed,” court documents state.
