Purdue’s Sackler Family owners worth $11 billion
Members of the Sackler family who own bankrupt OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma LP are worth approximately $11 billion, documents released Tuesday by a congressional committee show.
Members of the Sackler family have agreed to pay $4.28
billion over the next decade as part of a proposal for Purdue to exit
bankruptcy and settle thousands of lawsuits filed by states, local governments
and individuals blaming the company and its owners for helping fuel the
nation’s opioid crisis.
Summaries of the family wealth, turned over to Rep. Carolyn
Maloney (D., N.Y.), also were seen by Purdue’s creditors during settlement
talks, according to representatives for the two branches of the company’s
family owners.
A third branch of the family is no longer involved in Purdue
Pharma and wasn’t included in Tuesday’s release by Rep. Maloney, who chairs the
House Committee on Oversight and Reform.
The documents show the Sacklers’ wealth includes more than
$950 million in cash, more than $1 billion in real estate, another $1 billion
in private-equity investments and $250 million in art, jewelry and other
collectibles.
The family owns stakes worth more than $1 billion in
international drug companies, which are expected to be sold to help pay back
creditors. The documents show much of the family’s wealth is held in dozens of
trusts.
A spokesman for the descendants of the late Mortimer Sackler
said no party in the bankruptcy has challenged the accuracy or completeness of
the wealth disclosure and that "we hope the focus will now be on
concluding a resolution that will deliver timely resources to individuals,
families and communities in need."
A lawyer for the late Raymond Sackler side of the family
said the amount of the family’s settlement offer exceeds the profits they
retained from OxyContin sales. He added that the family supports the release of
company documents that demonstrate Sackler family members behaved ethically and
legally.
The summaries from the Mortimer and Raymond Sackler branches
detail their finances as of January 2020 and last month, respectively.
Purdue is still working to build support for its
multibillion-dollar creditor repayment plan, which would turn the company into
a public trust, operating for the benefit of the governments and others that
have sued. In exchange for payment from the Sacklers, the family members would
be absolved of lawsuits seeking to hold them liable for the costs of widespread
opioid addiction.
Nearly half of states, including California and New York,
oppose the Sacklers’ offer and said in a Friday filing that it isn’t "an
acceptable resolution of the Sacklers’ personal liability for their role in the
opioid crisis."
Purdue’s proposed plan requires the approval of the judge
overseeing its bankruptcy and will be subjected to a creditor vote. If
approved, the chapter 11 plan would sign away legal claims against the
Sacklers, including among those that don’t support it.
Investigators hired by Purdue previously said the family
owners had collected $10.3 billion from the company from 2008 to 2017,
distributions that lawsuits alleged were made to thwart future judgments. The
Sacklers have said the distributions, which included $4.6 billion paid to
taxes, were legitimate and left the company on solid financial ground.
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