Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2020-08-31)

THEPARENTS

The Family Business

From 2007 to2019,

10 SacklerswerePurduedirectors.

55

A

s the U.S. bumbles its way through the coronavirus pandemic, it can be easy

to overlook the opioid epidemic that’s shattered so many lives. But a trove of

documents that Bloomberg Businessweek has spent months analyzing helps explain

how the company at the center of the crisis moved money around in the years prior to

declaring bankruptcy.

Purdue Pharma LP faced its first court challenge in 2007, pleading guilty to

misleading the public about the addictive potential of its flagship painkiller,

OxyContin. By 2019 more than 130 people were dying daily from opioid overdoses

in the U.S., and Purdue faced thousands of lawsuits for its role in the epidemic. The

company, owned by the Sackler

family,declaredbankruptcyin

Septemberofthatyeartoshort-

circuitthelawsuits.

Butintheyearspriortothe

bankruptcy,Purdueandits

subsidiariesmovedbillions

tocompaniesultimately

registeredinLuxembourg,

theBritishVirginIslands,and

Delaware.Thetrailthattraces

thosebillionsislabyrinthine,

buthere’swhatweknow

abouttheirmaneuvering

basedonhundredsof

pagesofpubliclyavailable

information.(Ina statement,

Purduesaidit had“provided

thecompany’sstakeholders

andtheAmericanpublicwith

anextraordinaryamountof

detailedfinancialinformation.”

A spokespersonforthefamily

saidina statement,“Allof

theSacklerfamilymembers,

includingthosewhoserved

onPurdue’sboard,have

alwaysconductedthemselves

properly.”)

Beverly

Sackler

Boardmember

Raymond

Sackler

Co-owner,

boardmember

Mortimer

Sackler

Co-owner,

boardmember

Theresa

Sackler

Board member

DavidAlex

Sackler

Boardmember

Richard

Sackler

President,

boardmember

Ilene

Sackler

Lefcourt

Board

member

Kathe

Sackler

Board member

Mortimer

D.A.Sackler

Boardmember

Jonathan

Sackler

Boardmember

(diedinJune)

THE CHILDREN

RICHARD & BEVERLY: TACO VAN DER EB/HOLLANDSE HOOGTE/REDUX. MORTIMER SR: ALAN DAVIDSON/SHUTTERSTOCK. THERESA & MORTIMER JR: DAVI

D M. BENETT/GETTY IMAGES. JONATHAN: SYLVAIN GABOURY/PATRICK MCMULLAN/

GETTY IMAGES. RICHARD: PURDUE PHARMA. ILENE & KATHE: BILL CUNNINGHAM/THE NEW YORK TIMES/REDUX. IZZY: RONDA CHURCHILL/BLOOMBERG

Raymond B l