NY Finds $1B Sackler Hidden Transfers  09/14 08:59

   NEW YORK (AP) -- The family that owns OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma used 
Swiss and other hidden accounts to transfer $1 billion to themselves, New 
York's attorney general contends in court papers filed Friday.

   New York --- asking a judge to enforce subpoenas of companies, banks and 
advisers to Purdue and its owners, the Sackler family --- said it has uncovered 
the previously unknown wire transfers among family members, entities they 
control and several financial institutions.

   The transfers bolster allegations by New York and other states that the 
Sacklers worked to shield their wealth in recent years because of mounting 
worries about legal threats.

   Scores of those transactions sent millions of dollars to Mortimer D.A. 
Sackler, a former member of Purdue's board and a son of one of its founders, 
according to the filings.

   They point to $20 million shifted from a Purdue parent company to Sackler, 
who then redirected substantial amounts to shell companies that own family 
homes in Manhattan and the Hamptons. Another $64 million in transfers to 
Sackler came from a previously unknown family trust, using a Swiss account, 
prosecutors said in their filing.

   The filing, made in a New York court, follows decisions by that state and 
others to reject a tentative settlement with Stamford, Connecticut-based 
Purdue, announced this week, arguing it does not do enough to make amends for 
the company's and family's alleged roles in flooding U.S. communities with 
prescription painkillers.

   A spokesperson for Mortimer D.A. Sackler called the attorney general's 
contention an attempt to "torpedo a mutually beneficial settlement that is 
supported by so many other states and would result in billions of dollars going 
to communities and individuals across the country that need help."

   The transfers were "perfectly legal and appropriate in every respect," the 
spokesperson said.

   As part of the settlement, Purdue is likely to soon file for bankruptcy 
protection. But New York and other states have promised they will continue to 
pursue the Sacklers, alleging that family members drained more than $4 billion 
from the company over the past dozen years. The family has used a complex chain 
of companies and trusts to control their holdings, some located in offshore tax 
havens.

   The Sacklers had an estimated net worth of $13 billion as of 2016, making 
them America's 19th-richest family, according to Forbes magazine.

   In its filing Friday, New York told a state judge that the only way it can 
determine the full extent of those transfers is if all those it has subpoenaed 
are forced to provide documents detailing their interactions with the Sackler 
family.

   "While the Sacklers continue to lowball victims and skirt a responsible 
settlement, we refuse to allow the family to misuse the courts in an effort to 
shield their financial misconduct. The limited number of documents provided to 
us so far underscore the necessity for compliance with every subpoena," New 
York Attorney General Letitia James said in a prepared statement.


(KR)