OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma and its billionaire owners, the Sacklers, on Friday got a temporary reprieve from lingering court battles over their alleged role in fueling the opioid crisis. In exchange, they may have to be more forthcoming about what happened to all the OxyContin money.
US bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain temporarily halted state lawsuits against Purdue as well as the Sacklers—though only Purdue has filed for bankruptcy protections. In pausing the states' cases, Judge Drain cited Purdue's mounting legal expenses, which he noted is money that could otherwise go toward addressing the opioid crisis and its victims, according to The New York Times.
Purdue had sought a 180-day injunction on the state's cases, but Judge Drain's pause only lasts until November 6. In that shorter timeframe, he pushed the parties to try to talk out their differences. Those differences primarily hinge on whether the Sacklers are offering enough of their allegedly ill-gotten fortune to address the opioid crisis in thousands of lawsuits on the matter.
Purdue filed for bankruptcy in September as part of a tentative deal to settle more than 2,000 of them, which were mostly brought by state and local governments. According to Purdue's lawyers, the offered deal would be worth a total of $10 billion to $12 billion over time. Included in those figures is at least $3 billion from the Sacklers directly.
While hundreds of municipal governments and some states have agreed to the deal, about two dozen states and other plaintiffs are opposed. They argue that the Sacklers should pony up more of their fortune—and faster.
Billions
Purdue is estimated to have made more than $35 billion from OxyContin sales, and the Sacklers reportedly siphoned off as much as $13 billion of that into their own pockets.
Last month, New York's attorney general's office annoRead More – Source
