Purdue Pharma pleaded guilty to the crime of treating its prescription painkiller, OxyContin, and reached an agreement with federal prosecutors to resolve the drug maker’s investigation into the U.S. opioid crisis.
U.S. District Judge Madden Cox Arleo pleaded guilty at a remote trial in New Jersey on Tuesday to Purdue’s guilty of three crimes that can be discovered for widespread misconduct.
Among the crimes, there was a conspiracy to defraud U.S. officials and pay illegal kickbacks to both doctors and distributors of electronic health records, all of which would help the flow of medically dubious opioid prescriptions.
Members of the billionaire Sackler family, who owned Purdue, were not part of Tuesday’s lawsuit and did not prosecute. In October, it was agreed to pay a separate $ 225 million civil penalty for allegedly making false claims against OxyContin for government health programs such as Medicare. The allegations were refuted.
Steve Miller, president of Purdue, pleaded guilty on behalf of the company and pleaded guilty to his crime during interrogation by U.S. Deputy Attorney J. Stephen Ferketic. Two of the three crimes against Purdue were initiated in violation of a federal anti-kickback law, while another accused a Stamford company in Connecticut of cheating on the U.S. and violating the Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act.
Purdue’s legal basis agreement carries more than $ 6.5 billion in penalties, much of which is unpaid. As part of Purdue’s bankruptcy proceedings, a $ 3.54 billion criminal fine should be considered for billions of dollars in unsecured claims.
Purdue has pledged to pay $ 225 million to lose a $ 2 billion crime, while the Department of Justice will release the rest if the company goes bankrupt, disbanding itself and transferring its assets to a “public benefit company” or similar organization that controls the company. $ 1.775 billion unpaid. thousands of U.S. communities are suing over the opioid crisis.
A sentencing sentence is expected in the near future, close to the time Purdue receives court approval for a bankruptcy resolution.
