NOTE: This is another post about trusting American corporations to do the right thing for their customers, Americans.
In 2008, as Purdue Pharma was searching for a new chief executive, Richard Sackler received a memo from an adviser.
“In the event that a favorable [recapitalization] deal cannot be structured during 2008, the most certain way for the owners to diversify their risk is to distribute more free cash flow to themselves,” F. Peter Boer, a member of Purdue’s board of directors told Sackler, a prominent member of the wealthy family that owns the company.
[Read the 2008 memo from a Purdue board member to Richard Sackler]
That, authorities allege, is exactly what the Sackler family did. A lawsuit filed by the state of Massachusetts claims the Sacklers transferred more than $4 billion from the company to personal accounts between 2008 and 2016. Oregon asserts the family may have taken as much as $10 billion out of the company.