States: Sackler family members abusing bankruptcy process
ABC News
Lawyers for a handful of states say members of the Sackler family who own OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma are abusing the bankruptcy process
NEW YORK -- A federal judge should reject a sweeping settlement to thousands of lawsuits against OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, a group of states said at a hearing Tuesday, arguing that the protections it extends to members of the Sackler family who own the firm are improper.
States have credible claims that family members took more than $10 billion from the company, steered it toward bankruptcy, and then used a settlement crafted in bankruptcy court to gain legal protections for themselves, Washington state Solicitor General Noah Purcell told U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon.
“If that is not an abuse of the bankruptcy process,” Purcell said, “it’s unclear what would be.”
The plan, approved in September by a federal bankruptcy judge, calls for members of the Sackler family to contribute more than $4 billion in cash, plus the company itself, to fight the opioid epidemic, which has been linked to more than 500,000 U.S. deaths in the past two decades.
