The Washington Post - 28.08.2019

A8 EZ SU THE WASHINGTON POST.WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 28 , 2019

of people at higher doses, seem-

ingly with little regard for patient

safety. The company was led at the

time by Richard Sackler.

The company has denied the

allegations against it, and the

Sackler family has said the Massa-

chusetts lawsuit contains “mis-

leading and inflammatory allega-

tions” that took internal emails

out of context.

But public protests against the

Sacklers have been staged outside

a number of cultural institutions

bearing their name. The Louvre

Museum in Paris said in mid-July

that it had removed the Sackler

name from its Sackler Wing of

Oriental Antiquities as a result of

outrage. Earlier, the Metropolitan

Museum of Art and the Solomon

R. Guggenheim Museum, both in

New York, and the Tate Modern in

London announced they would no

longer accept gifts from the family.

[email protected]

[email protected]

Dalton Bennett contributed to this

report.

tribute to the settlement over a

number of years by selling drugs

such as OxyContin and non-opi-

oids. A bankruptcy judge would

choose the trustees.

The company also would pro-

vide anti-addiction medications

such as buprenorphine, naloxone

and nalmefene, a medication that

has not been approved but has

been fast-tracked by the FDA.

The Sacklers also would con-

tribute $3 billion in personal

funds to the settlement. That

could grow by $1.5 billion if the

family sells Mundipharma, an in-

ternational drug company that it

also owns. The Sackler family paid

itself nearly $4.3 billion from the

sale of its drugs between 2008 and

2016, a Massachusetts lawsuit

against the company claims.

Hostility toward the Sacklers

has grown as emails and other

documents released by Massachu-

setts Attorney General Maura

Healey and others portray a com-

pany that pushed sales represen-

tatives to persuade doctors to pre-

scribe more drugs to a wider group

with two Ohio counties proceed-

ing to trial as test cases. Polster has

encouraged the plaintiffs to settle

with some two dozen drug compa-

nies named in the lawsuits, and

negotiations have occurred even

as both sides readied for trial.

State attorneys general were pre-

sent, along with lawyers for the

federal plaintiffs, at last week’s

meeting, according to people fa-

miliar with it.

They said the company’s $7 bil-

lion in payments toward the set-

tlement would come from a com-

bination of sources, including in-

surance policies, cash, assets and

Purdue’s remaining product in-

ventory.

The company would declare

Chapter 11 bankruptcy and re-

structure as a for-profit “public

benefit trust,” with the Sacklers,

who have owned Purdue since

1952, no longer in control, two

people said. That trust would con-

the opioid litigation, the company

has made clear that it sees little

good coming from years of waste-

ful litigation and appeals.

“The people and communities

affected by the opioid crisis need

help now. Purdue believes a con-

structive global resolution is the

best path forward, and the compa-

ny is actively working with the

state attorneys general and other

plaintiffs to achieve this outcome.”

The company has made clear

for months that it was considering

bankruptcy in light of the liabili-

ties it faced from hundreds of law-

suits. Another signal came in an

Aug. 19 letter to former sales rep-

resentatives, warning that “there

exists the possibility that Purdue

may not, or may not be able to,

contribute enough to fully fund all

of the retirement benefits that will

become payable in the future un-

der the Plan.”

The federal case is set to begin

try. The deal under discussion

would cover the federal and state

lawsuits, according to the people

familiar with the proposal.

Purdue settled separately with

Oklahoma for $270 million in

March. In May, a North Dakota

judge threw out that state’s law-

suit against the company.

Purdue is widely blamed for

sparking the prescription opioid

crisis in the United States with the

introduction of OxyContin in

1996, followed by an aggressive

marketing effort that persuaded

doctors to prescribe it more wide-

ly and at higher doses.

In 2007, the company and three

executives pleaded guilty to feder-

al charges of misleading doctors

and the public about the drugs.

Purdue paid a $635 million fine.

Asked for comment Tuesday,

Purdue said in a statement:

“While Purdue Pharma is pre-

pared to defend itself vigorously in

ing to one person familiar with it,
and was discussed at a meeting in
Cleveland last week called by U.S.
District Judge Dan Aaron Polster,
who oversees the sprawling feder-
al lawsuit scheduled to get under-
way in mid-October.
Polster, who has encouraged
the parties to settle rather than go
to trial, told the parties to report
back to him Friday, the person
said.
Details about the talks come a
day after an Oklahoma judge
found health-care giant Johnson
& Johnson responsible for fueling
the state’s opioid epidemic and
ordered it to pay $572 million to
help abate the crisis.
In addition to Oklahoma, more
than 40 other states have filed
lawsuits in their own courts
against Purdue and other compa-
nies in the pharmaceutical indus-

OPIOIDS FROM A

BY ANN E. MARIMOW

President Trump’s biggest
lender has in its possession tax
records Congress is seeking in
targeting the president’s finan-
cial dealings, the bank told a
federal appeals court in New York
Tuesday.
The disclosure from Deutsche
Bank came in response to a court
order as part of a legal battle
between Congress and the presi-
dent over access to Trump’s busi-
ness records.
The bank’s public redacted re-

sponse filed Tuesday did not iden-

tify by name whose records it has.

The revelation provides new

details about the pool of possible

documents Congress could even-

tually obtain. The House Finan-

cial Services and Intelligence

committees have subpoenaed the

banks for years of financial docu-

ments from the president, his

three eldest children and the

president’s companies.

“Based on Deutsche Bank’s

current knowledge and the re-

sults of the extensive searches

that have already been conduct-

ed, the Bank has in its possession

tax returns (in either draft or

as-filed form) responsive to the

Subpoenas,” the bank’s lawyers

told the New York-based U.S.

Court of Appeals for the 2nd

Circuit.

An unredacted version of the

letter, with the names of individu-

als or entities, was also filed un-

der seal with the court and fol-

lowed a spirited discussion dur-

ing oral argument last week. Law-

yers for Deutsche Bank and

Capital One had refused to an-

swer questions from a three-

judge panel about whether the

banks have Trump’s tax returns.

Attorneys for both banks said

“contractual obligations” pre-

vented the institutions from re-

sponding, before being directed

by the judges to file a letter under

seal on the issue of the returns.

In its letter Tuesday, Deutsche

Bank said it was redacting the

names of specific individuals

from the public filing because of

privacy concerns about revealing

the nature of its relationship with

clients.

“The Bank seeks to redact the

names of specific individuals to

strike an appropriate balance be-

tween compliance with the

Court’s order (to which it has

responded in full) and the com-

peting client privacy consider-

ations,” according to the letter

from Washington-based attorney

Raphael A. Prober.

The second bank, Capital One,

told the court it does not have any

tax returns responsive to the

House subpoena.

Trump is appealing a ruling

from a district court judge in New

York who refused to block the

banks from handing over the rec-

ords to the two committees.

Unlike past presidents, Trump

has refused to release his tax

returns and has sued to try to stop

the banks and his accounting

firm from complying with con-

gressional subpoenas.

In separate cases, the president

is also trying to stop his accoun-

tants at Mazars from complying

with a subpoena from the House

Oversight Committee and to

shield his New York state tax

returns from the House Ways and

Means Committee.

At the appeals court in New

York last Friday, the president’s

lawyers court said the House sub-

poenas overstep congressional

authority and are designed to

embarrass the president for polit-

ical purposes. The case involves

the “broadest possible subpoena

ever served that targets a sitting

president,” Trump’s attorney Pat-

rick Strawbridge said in court.

“The real objective appears to be

law enforcement” not legislative.

In a separate letter to the court

Tuesday, lawyers for the House

told the court that the subpoenas

specifically for the president’s tax

records are lawful if the banks

obtained the tax returns directly

from the president or were pro-

vided to the banks by the Internal

Revenue Service with Trump’s

consent.

The House committee leaders

— Reps. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.)

and Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) —

want to examine the relationship

between Trump and Deutsche

Bank as part of a larger examina-

tion of Russian money launder-

ing and potential foreign influ-

ence on Trump.

Deutsche Bank has been a ma-

jor lender to both the Trump

Organization and Kushner Com-

panies, which previously was run

by Trump’s son-in-law, Jared

Kushner, now a presidential ad-

viser.

[email protected]

Deutsche Bank tells court it has tax records Congress has been seeking

BY DEANNA PAUL

AND SUSAN SVRLUGA

Ismail B. Ajjawi touched down

at Boston Logan International

Airport on Friday night, prepared

to begin his freshman year at Har-

vard University. The 17-year-old

Palestinian student never left the

airport.

The Harvard Crimson reported

that U.S. officials detained Ajjawi

for eight hours. After interrogat-

ing the teen and searching his

phone and computer, they re-

voked his visa and sent him home

to Lebanon.

Why?

According to a statement by

Ajjawi, an immigration officer

claimed she “found people posting

political points of view that op-

pose the U.S.,” though she discov-

ered nothing Ajjawi had posted

himself.

“After the 5 hours ended, she

called me into a room, and she

started screaming at me. She said

that she found people posting po-

litical points of view that oppose

the US on my friend[s] list,” Ajjawi

wrote, describing what happened

after the officer searched his elec-

tronics. “I responded that I have

no business with such posts and

that I didn’t like, [s]hare or com-

ment on them and told her that I

shouldn’t be held responsible for

what others post.”

Then, the Crimson reported, Aj-

jawi’s visa was revoked and he

returned to Lebanon.

Ajjawi did not return messages

from The Washington Post seek-

ing comment.

Harvard spokesman Jonathan

L. Swain said in an emailed state-

ment: “The University is working

closely with the student’s family

and appropriate authorities to re-

solve this matter so that he can

join his classmates in the coming

days.” Classes begin Sept. 3.

Michael McCarthy, a spokes-

man for U.S. Customs and Border

Protection, said in an email the

department is “responsible for en-

suring the safety and admissibility

of the goods and people entering

the United States. Applicants

must demonstrate they are admis-

sible into the U.S. by overcoming

all grounds of inadmissibility in-

cluding health-related grounds,

criminality, security reasons, pub-

lic charge, labor certification, ille-

gal entrants and immigration vio-

lations, documentation require-

ments, and miscellaneous

grounds. This individual was

deemed inadmissible to the Unit-

ed States based on information

discovered during the CBP inspec-

tion.”

A State Department spokesper-

son said in an email to The Post:

“Visa records are confidential un-

der U.S. law; therefore, we cannot

discuss the details of individual

visa cases. Generally, visa appli-

cants are continuously screened,

both at the time of their applica-

tion and afterwards, to ensure

they remain eligible to travel to

the United States.”

A CBP spokesperson said every

applicant for admission to the

United States is subject to com-

plete inspection on arrival. In all

cases, the applicant bears the bur-

den of proof of admissibility, the

official said.

The State Department has the

authority to issue and revoke vi-

sas, the official said, and CBP has

the authority to cancel visas under

certain circumstances. If the agen-

cy determines an applicant is in-

admissible for entry, CBP can can-

cel the visa.

Ajjawi said that he was de-

tained with a handful of interna-

tional students. As the others were

released, however, he was ques-

tioned about his religious practic-

es and social media activity.

The Crimson reported that Aj-

jawi’s experience is “rare among

Harvard undergraduates.” Two

students and two scholars were

blocked from entering the country

in January 2017 because of the

Trump administration’s travel ban

on seven majority-Muslim coun-

tries, Swain said.

Harvard’s president, Lawrence

S. Bacow, wrote to the secretary of

state and acting secretary of

homeland security last month to

express his concerns about stu-

dent visas and student work visas.

“Students report difficulties

getting initial visas — from delays

to denials,” he wrote. “Scholars

have experienced postponements

and disruptions for what have pre-

viously been routine immigration

processes such as family visas, re-

newals of status, or clearance for

international travel.”

Bacow wrote that he appreci-

ates that there is a broader policy

priority with regard to security

concerns, including protection of

intellectual property and report-

ing on donations to the institu-

tion, but that visa policies mandat-

ing increased scrutiny of foreign

students and scholars were rais-

ing concern.

The news prompted strong re-

actions, both from some who ap-

plauded U.S. efforts to protect na-

tional security and from others

sorry that a young scholar was not

allowed entry.

[email protected]

[email protected]

Liz Sly contributed to this report.

Palestinian student says

Harvard entry thwarted

BY ALEX HORTON

The X-37B — the Air Force’s
ultra-secretive, astronaut-free
spacecraft that looks like a minia-
turized space shuttle — just broke
its own flight record of 719 days in
continuous orbit.
What, exactly, the experimental
spacecraft has been doing for al-
most exactly two years straight
has puzzled analysts who can only
speculate about the Pentagon’s
ambitions over the low-orbit vehi-
cle.
The Air Force has said: “The
primary objectives of the X-37B
are twofold: reusable spacecraft
technologies for America’s future
in space and operating experi-
ments which can be returned to,
and examined, on Earth.”
Pretty clear, right?
In September 2017, defense offi-
cials said the X-37B’s mission — its
fifth since 2010 — would demon-
strate the potential for getting to
space quickly and “on-
orbit testing of emerging space
technologies” while testing experi-
mental electronics in zero gravity.
Its playground is an important

one and may provide clues to the

spacecraft’s true mission and what

payload it may carry. Low Earth

orbit is where the International

Space Station circumnavigates the

planet and where many military

and commercial satellites are situ-

ated.

As future conflict increasingly

has a dimension in space, war out-

side our atmosphere could be fo-

cused on killing vital surveillance

and navigational satellites to give

terrestrial armies an advantage.

Scaling down big, unwieldy sat-

ellites to smaller, equally capable

satellites to get lower in orbit makes

a lot of sense when you need higher

resolution images of, say, missile

launch sites in North Korea or Chi-

nese operations in contested areas

of the South China Sea.

Lower orbit requires more ma-

neuverability, which means more

fuel, Air and Space magazine re-

ported. The X-37B is also using

Hall thrusters that use an electric

field to accelerate xenon propel-

lant, which means more intricate

movements can be done without

relying on a lot of fuel on board.

That application would be

prized on reconnaissance satel-

lites that need to stay low for years,

the magazine reported.

The X-37B, a diminutive space-

craft with less than a 15-foot wing-

span, has been the subject of in-

tense speculation since its initial

mission in 2010, and the Air Force

has relied on SpaceX to get it to

space. In 2017, the company

launched the spacecraft atop a

Falcon 9 rocket.

Air Force officials have been

tight-lipped about the capabilities

and mission of the classified X-37B

program and have typically

dumped laundry lists of densely

worded objectives onto reporters

and analysts.

“Technologies being tested in

the program include advanced

guidance, navigation and control,

thermal protection systems, avi-

onics, high temperature struc-

tures and seals, conformal reus-

able insulation, lightweight elec-

tromechanical flight systems, ad-

vanced propulsion systems,

advanced materials and autono-

mous orbital flight, reentry and

landing,” Air Force spokesman

Maj. William A. Russell said in a

statement.

Officials have touted the space-

craft’s ability to get experiments

back to Earth. That was possible

with NASA’s Shuttle Orbiter, Rus-

sell said, but the X-37B’s stamina

means it can stay in space much

longer.

“There are no other space plat-

forms providing the performance

and flexibilities to advance tech-

nologies in a way that allows the

scientists and engineers to recover

their experiments,” Russell said.

The X-37B is clearly state-of-

the-art while up in space, but on

the Earth, it gets around a little

more modestly.

In 2017, when the previous mis-

sion’s spacecraft landed, the Air

Force released some of the few

public images of the X-37B.

The photos showed the secret

vehicle guided by a particular

land-propulsion system — a white

Chevrolet pickup.

[email protected]

Christian Davenport contributed to

this report.

Secretive space drone breaks its own orbit record

UNITED LAUNCH ALLIANCE/ASSOCIATED PRESS

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lifts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on May 20, 2015. The
rocket is carrying the Air Force’s X-37B spacecraft. Air Force officials have been tight-lipped about the X-37B program.

“There are no other space platforms providing the

performance and flexibilities to advance

technologies in a way that allows the scientists and

engineers to recover their experiments.”

Maj. William A. Russell, Air Force spokesman

Analysts speculate X-37B

signals advancements for

reconnaissance satellites

Lawmakers have been

trying to get access to

Trump financial files

Purdue would file for bankruptcy under settlement

Teen says CBP officials

cited friends’ online views