Home/US & World/Suckler family abusing the bankruptcy process, says state
Suckler family abusing the bankruptcy process, says state
jessesheridanNovember 30, 2021
The state claims that Sackler's family is manipulating billions of dollars to abuse the bankruptcy process to gain their protection.
New York — Federal Judges Must Refuse to Clean Up settlement In thousands of proceedings against Oxycontin maker Purdue PharmaA state group told a member of the Suckler family, who owns the company, at a hearing on Tuesday that the protection it extended was inappropriate.
The state has a credible claim that the family is taking more $ 10 billion From the company steered it towards bankruptcy and then used Bankruptcy crafted reconciliation Washington State Court of Justice Noah Purcell told Judge Colleen McMahon of the US District Court that it was a court for her legal protection.
"If it's not an abuse of the bankruptcy process, it's unclear what it is," Purcell said.
The plan was developed primarily by those with claims against Purdue University and was approved by a federal bankruptcy judge in September. Suckler family Donated more than $ 4 billion in cash and the company itself to combat the opioid epidemic associated with more than 500,000 US deaths over the last two decades, including deaths related to both prescription and illicit drugs To do.
In exchange, family members should be protected from proceedings accusing them of spurring the crisis. The proceedings have accused the company and its families of helping to pose a crisis of overdose by aggressively selling oxycontin, a powerful opioid analgesic.
They are not protected from criminal charges. A group of activists have urged federal authorities to prosecute some members of the family, but they are no longer faced. after that. Much of their property is stored in offshore trusts, which may be difficult to access in US proceedings.
Most state and local governments, and thousands of epidemic victims, agreed to the deal, but many agreed with resentment. These groups are currently defending their plans from complaints from the US Department of Justice, eight states, the District of Columbia, some Canadian municipalities, Native American tribe groups, and some individual victims. We work with the Purdue and Sackler families.
At a hearing in New York City court on Tuesday, McMahon focused on sending $ 10.4 billion from Purdue University's financial resources to a family trust from 2008 to 2018. Almost half of it was used to pay taxes on revenue.
The judge said that by making more distributions in the decade leading to the company's bankruptcy filing, Sackler's family was "needed" to negotiate the amount available to plaintiffs.
Family lawyers said the distribution was larger because the company was making more money and there was no evidence that any of them were trying to operate the bankruptcy system.
Those who appealed to the plan claimed that the protection Sackler gained was more generous than what they could have received if they filed for bankruptcy. Bankruptcy also protects the company from proceedings.
They also said that permitting the transaction would deprive the state of its ability to sue Sackler's family and hold them accountable.
"In this case, the confirmation of this plan is to deprive the police of power," said Brian Edmans, Assistant Secretary of Justice, Maryland.
Marshall Hubner, a lawyer at Purdue University based in Stamford, Connecticut, said U.S. bankruptcy judge Robert Drain claimed that members of the Suckler family would be protected from a lawsuit involving only opioids by Purdue University. He said he misunderstood the details of the settlement plan.
He also said that the overwhelming majority of governments have agreed to plans to fund individual victims of the opioid crisis and efforts to combat the crisis.
McMahon cut him off. "My question focuses on the legality aspect of the release," she said. "I don't want to hear about the great things it's trying to do. I know it's been approved by a majority."
Still, Mr Huebner said that without funding from members of the Suckler family, there would be much less funding to tackle the crisis. He said they might not pay the settlement if they were sued and could win. And if they lose other proceedings — they are currently facing about 860 of them — they may not be able to afford it.
Kenneth Xtyne, a lawyer for a group of government agencies that support the settlement, said he also wanted to release members of the Suckler family.
He said that if some states could sue their families, others would not accept payment plans over nine years, as there is a risk that Suckler's money will run out before all installments are paid. ..
Mitchell Hurley, an unsecured creditor lawyer who was looking for some of Purdue's assets, said that if most of these groups did not join to agree to a settlement, "Purdue's value would be wasted and become a lawyer. I'm going. " Opioid crisis.
He said the government and private creditors (except individual victims) agreed to spend all the money they received to fight opioids, which kill 200 people a day in the United States. approved.
"If it fails, if it explodes, it will be the creditors who suffer the consequences independently," Harley told McMahon.
However, Maria Ecke, who died of an addiction that began 17 years before being prescribed opioids after her son Jonathan was injured in a car accident in 2015, said the reconciliation hurts.
On Tuesday, a Connecticut resident showed McMahon a poster of her son's photo and pleaded that no settlement would be allowed.
"Plaintiffs have suffered and continue to suffer physical and mental injuries," she said.
McMahon said he hopes to take control by next week, although the decision may take longer. She is arguably not the last word. Whatever decision she makes may be appealed to the High Court.
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