Sackler family’s protected billions
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PURDUE DEAL
I had a pretty exciting week last week, by the standards of the new normal, in that I made four separate train journeys, spoke at two conferences, and held a series of meetings in person, rather than via zoom. Once upon a time I would have thought that was mundane, but not anymore. I’m still feeling buzzy about it, and I’ve been home for three days.
I also got to read lots of books, thanks to the hours it took those trains to rattle through the green and pleasant suburbs of England. Among them was Empire of Pain, Patrick Radden Keefe’s history of the Sackler dynasty. I’m late to it, but it was interesting to read it in the light of this month’s bankruptcy court ruling on the settlement between the Sacklers and their legal opponents in 3,000 different lawsuits, over their production and marketing of Oxycontin.
Several state attorneys general and one federal government office are planning to appeal the ruling, which they say unfairly benefits the Sacklers, so this saga isn’t over.