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The AP has details of the Purdue settlement, which will be formally announced in half an hour. Lots to unpack here, but two things for now. (1/3) https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-business-criminal-investigations-opioids-epidemics-5f0679ffee14577b1696a94b64abc9c2?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=AP&utm_campaign=SocialFlow
You'll see lots of headlines about the putative "$8 billion" value of the settlement. Remember, though, that Purdue is in bankruptcy, with total cash & assets of only ~$1b The Sacklers have taken as much as $13b OUT of Purdue, but they're not on the hook here to pay the $8b (2/3)
So that top line number - while very big! - is fine for press releases but is not an actual real world number that anyone is going to pay. This
is also a surprise and raises interesting questions about what might happen if someone else is running DOJ come January (3/3 more soon)
is also a surprise and raises interesting questions about what might happen if someone else is running DOJ come January (3/3 more soon)
Presser just wrapped. The Sacklers' personal exposure is just $225mil in civil damages. A number of questions in the Q&A noted that this is ~2% of what the Sacklers took out of the company, wondering if DOJ tried to go after their $10+ billion. Deputy AG Rosen skirts the question
Rosen suggested - I'm paraphrasing, not a direct quote - that in the USA, just because someone does something bad doesn't mean the state can take everything they own.
Useful counterpoint, from @stillsarita: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/08/12/taken
Useful counterpoint, from @stillsarita: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/08/12/taken
New York AG @TishJames just put out a statement saying the DOJ settlement "allows billionaires to keep their billions without any accounting for how much they really made."
