Sacklers: Billions reaped from Purdue Pharma and not bankruptcy abuses | Disruptive Issues

When it eventually paid off debt for opioid-related cases, Purdue Pharma demanded Sacklers money to settle billions of lawsuits. In response, the Sacklers were able to seek protection from litigation.

Members of the Sackler family on Monday said that the billions collected from Purdue Pharma before the company sent Chapter 11 to the United States were the result of extra money, not part of a “secret plan” to misuse the banking system.

In court papers, lawyers for the Sackler family members, who were in charge of Purdue Pharma, rejected US Regional Judge Colleen McMahon’s suggestion that more than $ 10bn the company would provide in the coming 2019 bankruptcy could be torturing the Head. 11 outline. About half of that money went to taxes or business expenses, according to court documents.

The Sacklers allegedly embezzled Purdue Pharma funds for several years. When it eventually paid off debt for the opioid epidemic, the company needed Sacklers’ money to settle billions of lawsuits. In response, the Sacklers were able to seek protection from litigation.

The Sacklers rejected the notion that there was any “conspiracy” to deliberately undermine Purdue so that it could not be reformed without “their financial contributions.

There is no evidence that the payment was “made as part of a confidential policy” to misuse the banking policy, Sackler said. They called the concept “pure fiction”.

McMahon is considering whether to overturn a bankruptcy court ruling that protects Sacklers from liability in the opioid epidemic. If they find that there is sufficient evidence to the contrary, they might refer the matter to a court that failed to repay the debt.

More than 500,000 people have died from opioid overdose since 1999, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The payments, Sacklers said, were made as the business grew, including more revenue after the revocation of Purdue Pharma’s OxyContin patent in 2008.

The Sacklers, who plead not guilty and have not paid a fine for the damages, have paid $ 4.5bn to resolve opioid-related offenses for protection against future crimes.

Purdue Pharma argued in a separate file on Monday that security was important because the company could not leave bankruptcy without resolving opioid-related complaints against themselves and the Sacklers.

The banking officer of the U.S. Department of Justice, the US Trustee, has long criticized this type of protection and said Monday in court that the law does not provide such protection for people who have not paid.

A U.S. official has accused Sacklers of “piggybacking” the removal of Purdue Pharma bankers for self-defense.

“If this does not abuse the banking system, it is not clear what it is,” the US Trustee said.