Purdue Pharma pleads guilty to criminal opioid crisis charges

 

• Purdue Pharma has formally admitted its role in an opioid epidemic that has contributed to hundreds of thousands of deaths over the past two decades.
• The OxyContin maker pleaded guilty to three federal criminal charges - conspiring to defraud U.S. officials and paying illegal kickbacks to doctors and a healthcare records vendor - all to help keep prescriptions flowing.
• While the plea deal carries more than $8.3B in penalties and forfeitures, most of those will go unpaid, with Purdue only on the hook for $225M. The DOJ will forego the rest if the bankrupt company completes a reorganization dissolving itself and shifting assets to a "public benefit company" that steers $1.78B to combat the opioid crisis.
• Members of the wealthy Sackler family who own the company have also agreed to pay $225M to settle civil claims. No criminal charges have been filed against family members, but it remains a possibility in the future.
• Other players in the crisis include Teva Pharmaceutical (NYSE:TEVA), AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), McKesson (NYSE:MCK), Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) and AmerisourceBergen (NYSE:ABC).
• https://seekingalpha.com/news/3639300-purdue-pharma-pleads-guilty-to-criminal-opioid-crisis-charges