Wealthy Sackler Family Avoids Civil Lawsuits Over Opioid Deaths

THE 3 FACES OF EVIL –

July 25, 2023 – Under a deal reached last year with thousands of state and local government entities, the company is to become a new entity, with its profits being used to fight the opioid epidemic. And Sackler family members are to pay up to $6 billion over time.

The Purdue deal is one of the bigger ones in a series of corporate opioid settlements worth a total of more than $50 billion so far. Unlike most of them, it includes funds for people who were victims of the crisis and their families.

In exchange, the members of the wealthy Sackler family, who are not themselves seeking bankruptcy protections, are to be shielded from lawsuits. A 2nd Circuit panel approved the deal in May. By then, the main remaining objector was the U.S. Bankruptcy Trustee, which says the Sacklers should not have legal protections.

The trustee has said in court filings that it intends to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to take the case. The deadline for that request is Aug. 28.

But the 2nd Circuit said Tuesday that it would not hold back the settlement from being enacted. The bankruptcy trustee could now ask the top court to put the settlement plan on hold.

The trustee, an arm of the federal Department of Justice, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Tuesday.