When Purdue Pharma LP filed for bankruptcy on Sept. 15, it was in no small measure to blunt the effects of the more then 2,000 lawsuits filed against the company and its owners, the Sackler family. As bankruptcy court looks to sort through the issues – including assets and liabilities – one looming question will be, how much money will the Sacklers have to pay from their own wealth to settle the suits? Did the money that they paid themselves over the last few years a way to shield it from what they expected would be a blizzard of lawsuits based on Purdue Pharma’s production and marketing of opioid pain killers?
