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The Sackler family, which owns Purdue Pharma, used Swiss and other hidden bank accounts to transfer around $1 billion from the company to themselves, the New York attorney general’s office claimed Friday.
The family stands to lose billions after a litany of lawsuits claiming that their company marketed the painkiller OxyContin as nonaddictive despite knowing otherwise.
The transfers support allegations by New York and other states that the Sacklers have worked to shield their wealth in the face of mounting legal threats.
Those transfers include $20 million from a Purdue parent company to former board member Mortimer D.A. Sackler, who then redirected the money to shell companies that own homes in Manhattan and the Hamptons, prosecutors said. Another $64 million came to Sackler from a previously unknown family trust, by way of a Swiss account.