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NEW YORK (AP) – The family owner of the manufacturer of OxyContin, Purdue Pharma, has used Swiss secret accounts and the like to transfer a billion dollars to themselves, the Attorney General of New York announced in documents filed on Friday.
New York – asking a judge to summon subpoenas, banks and advisers to Purdue and its owners, the Sackler family – said they discovered previously unknown electronic transfers between family members, entities that they controlled and several financial institutions.
The transfers reinforce the claims of New York and other states that the Sacklers have worked to protect their wealth in recent years due to growing concerns over legal threats.
Dozens of these transactions have sent millions of dollars to Mortimer D.A. Sackler, former board member of Purdue and son of one of its founders, according to the filed documents.
They point out that $ 20 million was transferred from a Purdue parent company to Sackler, which then redirected large sums to front companies owning family homes in Manhattan and the Hamptons. Another $ 64 million transfer to Sackler comes from an unknown family trust until then, using an account in Switzerland, prosecutors said in their statement.
The case, filed in a New York court, follows the decision of this state and others to reject an agreement in principle with Stamford, Connecticut, Purdue, announced this week, arguing that this was not enough to repair the alleged role of the company and his family. flooding American communities with prescription painkillers.
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A spokesman for Mortimer DA Sackler described the Attorney General's claim as an attempt "to torpedo a mutually beneficial settlement supported by many other states that would result in billions of dollars going to the communities and people of the country who have need help ".
The transfers were "perfectly legal and appropriate in all respects," the spokesman said.
Under the settlement, Purdue is expected to seek bankruptcy protection soon. But New York and other states have promised that they would continue to sue the Sacklers, alleging that their family members had drained more than $ 4 billion from the company over the last twelve years . The family has used a complex chain of corporations and trusts to control their holdings, some located in tax havens abroad.
According to estimates by Forbes magazine, the Sacklers had a net worth estimated at $ 13 billion in 2016, making it the 19th richest family in North America.
In its filing Friday, New York told a state judge that the only way to determine the extent of these transfers is to force all those who have been assigned to provide documents to provide details of their interactions with them. the Sackler family.
"While the Sacklers continue to discredit the victims and avoid a responsible settlement, we refuse to allow the family to misuse the courts in order to protect its financial misconduct. been provided to date underscores the need to respect subpoena, "said New York Attorney General Letitia James in a statement.
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