From NYTimes: “ Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, has agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges and face penalties of roughly $8.3 billion, the Justice Department announced on Wednesday, a move that could pave the way for a settlement of thousands of lawsuits brought against the company for its role in the opioids epidemic.
The company’s owners, members of the wealthy Sackler family, will pay $225 million in civil penalties. Federal prosecutors said the settlement did not preclude criminal charges against Purdue executives or individual Sacklers.”
$8.3B is extremely misleading- the article says it won't happen.
"A forensic audit last year by Purdue found that the Sacklers directed at least $10.7 billion in the company’s proceeds to family-controlled trusts and holding companies"
So the family extracts $10.7B from the company and pays a $225M fine. The company is fined $8.3B but most likely goes bankrupt because it's already been drained by the family.
Plus this is only for Purdue. How many other companies pumped opioids into the medical system? Not a peep out of law enforcement at all. You can wake a judge in the middle of the night to send 2 swat teams on a dynamic entry to get a 16 year old with 12 oz of cannabis. But the guys pumping over 90% of the opioids in the medical system? Crickets.
That's where you know that money talks in America.
From NYTimes: “ Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, has agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges and face penalties of roughly $8.3 billion, the Justice Department announced on Wednesday, a move that could pave the way for a settlement of thousands of lawsuits brought against the company for its role in the opioids epidemic.
The company’s owners, members of the wealthy Sackler family, will pay $225 million in civil penalties. Federal prosecutors said the settlement did not preclude criminal charges against Purdue executives or individual Sacklers.”