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by germinalphrase 2070 days ago
NYTimes quoted 8.3 billion in fines.

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.”
2 comments
randomfool 2070 days ago
$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.

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HappySweeney 2070 days ago
It still leaves $2.7 billion profit and no jail time.
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randomfool 2070 days ago
No, it leaves $10.5B profit to the family since they've already drained $10.7B from the company and are only being fined $225M themselves.

The family will lose control of the company but they knew this was coming and drained it ahead of time. DoJ is letting them get away with it.

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bilbo0s 2070 days ago
It's a slap in the face.

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.

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geodel 2070 days ago
> That's where you know that money talks in America.

Is there any place where money does not talk?

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tyfon 2070 days ago
Would it be possible for the victims to sue them now since criminal actions have been proven?
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