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A2 u.s. news
Saturday 14 September 2019

NY finds $1B in hidden transfers by family behind OxyContin

By ADAM GELLER AP Na- ily members, entities they
tional Writer control and several finan-
NEW YORK (AP) — The cial institutions.
family that owns OxyCon- The transfers bolster alle-
tin maker Purdue Pharma gations by New York and
used Swiss and other hid- other states that the Sack-
den accounts to transfer $1 lers worked to shield their
billion to themselves, New wealth in recent years be-
York’s attorney general cause of mounting worries
contends in court papers about legal threats.
filed Friday. Scores of those transac-
New York — asking a judge tions sent millions of dollars
to enforce subpoenas of to Mortimer D.A. Sackler, a
companies, banks and former member of Purdue’s
advisers to Purdue and its board and a son of one of
owners, the Sackler fam- its founders, according to
ily — said it has uncovered the filings.
the previously unknown They point to $20 million
wire transfers among fam- shifted from a Purdue par-

Cars pass Purdue Pharma headquarters Thursday, Sept. 12, 2019, in Stamford, Conn.
Associated Press
ent company to Sackler, for the company’s and Forbes magazine.
who then redirected sub- family’s alleged roles in In its filing Friday, New York
stantial amounts to shell flooding U.S. communities told a state judge that the
companies that own family with prescription painkillers. only way it can determine
homes in Manhattan and As part of the settlement, the full extent of those
the Hamptons. Another $64 Purdue is likely to soon file transfers is if all those it has
million in transfers to Sackler for bankruptcy protection. subpoenaed are forced to
came from a previously un- But New York and other provide documents detail-
known family trust, using a states have promised they ing their interactions with
Swiss account, prosecutors will continue to pursue the the Sackler family.
said in their filing. Sacklers, alleging that fam- “While the Sacklers con-
Representatives for the ily members drained more tinue to lowball victims and
branch of the family that than $4 billion from the skirt a responsible settle-
includes Mortimer D.A. company over the past ment, we refuse to allow
Sackler did not respond dozen years. The family the family to misuse the
to requests for comment has used a complex chain courts in an effort to shield
Friday. The filing, made in of companies and trusts to their financial misconduct.
a New York court, follows control their holdings, some The limited number of doc-
decisions by that state and located in offshore tax ha- uments provided to us so
others to reject a tentative vens. far underscore the neces-
settlement with Stamford, The Sacklers had an esti- sity for compliance with ev-
Connecticut-based Pur- mated net worth of $13 ery subpoena,” New York
due, announced this week, billion as of 2016, making Attorney General Letitia
arguing it does not do them America’s 19th-rich- James said in a prepared
enough to make amends est family, according to statement.q