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