New York State Attorney General Leticia James stated that the Sackler Family was wiring money out of the country to protect their assets from litigation related to the opioid crisis.
New York Uncovers $1 Billion in Sackler Family Wire Transfers
In a court filing, the state attorney general’s office says that it has found new account transfers by members of the family that owns Purdue Pharma, the maker of opioids.
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The New York attorney general’s office said on Friday that it had tracked about $1 billion in wire transfers by the Sackler family, including through Swiss bank accounts, suggesting that the family tried to shield wealth as it faced a raft of litigation over its role in the opioid crisis.
Earlier this week, thousands of municipal governments and nearly two dozen states tentatively reached a settlement with the Sackler family and the company it owns, Purdue Pharma, maker of OxyContin. It was unclear if the new disclosure would change the thinking of any of the parties that agreed to the settlement.
The attorneys general of a majority of states, including New York and Massachusetts, have already balked at the proposed deal, contending that the Sackler family has siphoned off company profits that should be used to pay for the billions of dollars in damage caused by opioids.
The wire transfers are part of a lawsuit against Purdue and individual Sacklers in New York. Letitia James, now the state’s attorney general, had issued subpoenas last month to 33 financial institutions and investment advisers with ties to the Sacklers in an effort to trace the full measure of the family’s wealth.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The question is, now that the FBI has cut its baby 👶 teeth 🦷 on the dastardly deeds of diehard gangsters like Martha Stewart, are they finally up to going after the really big crooks in this country?
Exactly. So, Felicity Huffman gets her, what, two weeks in jail. She trods the red carpet of shame. But the super rich walk away with (or, wire away with) their billions in cash.
BTW, I wish Huffman had skipped the tearful mea culpa and really did the world a favor, even if she had to act. She should’ve played a true VILLAIN and actually vocalized what many of the most powered and privileged must be quietly feeling deep down in their guts: “Oh, poor and middle class, you will follow the rules and work so hard. Work, work, work at those grueling jobs and send your children to poorly funded schools, hoping the best for them even though we know the deck is already stacked against those innocent tykes. Their future is writ. For the children, too, will SUFFER, just like you, ha, ha, HA……” [Cue evil laugh.] Give it the full, Martin Shkreli-effect, you know.
Because that IS what we are really talking about here in the age of Trump -survival of the fittest, even though little kids who start behind in this wicked game so often don’t have a fighting chance.
It would Huffman’s greatest role. Sure, people would truly despise her -forever. (No going on daytime TV to repent, no ghost written memoir to try and explain it all away….”I was a victim, too, blah, blah, blah….”) No, but Huffman would be doing our nation a favor, delivering a blast of honesty, laying it bare in a performance truly deserving of an X rating. America as it is in 2019. Tawdry, cheapened, sad and scary. The fear most parents wake up with in the middle of night, even those of us who already have so much. (Isn’t that crazy?) What happens when we stop doling out the painkillers? Huffman could do real community service in prime time and show us how it really is. Then, I might be able to feel at least a little bit of respect for her.
Yes, Jon, how BAD will it actually have to get in our country until real, systematic change happens?
Stay tuned, America! We’ll be right back after this commercial break, brought to you by the fine folks at big pharma…. “For fast relief of your headache pain, take…..”
I don’t condone what Huffman did, but the little guys get prosecuted for “crimes” like “cheating on tests”. Or whatever Martha Stewart did. They are the little guys here.
Cheating on a test, greatly exaggerating (i.e. lying) about your accomplishments on a college application or a job application should mean immediate firing or immediate expulsion and public humiliation. It seems questionable to “lock her up” in jail.
But while I realize that all kids who sneak a peak at their phones or crib notes during a test are hurting the other students with their cheating and it is certainly unfair and they deserve punishment, we don’t yet make cheating a crime. Maybe we could stop all cheating in schools by throwing all children caught into jail.
Meanwhile the real corruption and those who participate continue.
Martha Stewart had to be put in her place.
She was a threat to the Commander in Chef.
Reprehensible. They remind me of the Steve Miller classic “Take the Money and Run”. The Sacklers model accountability and fiscal transparency about as well as all those charters they endorse.
Great Steve Miller reference. He played not that far away this summer and I kick myself for not getting there. (Too busy doing IMPORTANT things, ha, ha.)
“Take the Money and Run” “The song peaked at #11 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in July 1976”
Which is what REALLY frustrates me. I mean I can listen to most top 40 music from the 1970s forever But how LONG do we have to keep dealing with these political relics, these retreads, these moldy oldies from that same era: Donald Trump and his stupid face? The asinine trickle down theory in economics? The immoral minority that won’t bake a cake for someone’s wedding (and is taking over our courts)?
We’ve heard that crappy stuff over and over again.
Oooooo, take the money to Switzerland.
We certainly never thought the Sacklers would quietly fall on their swords. In true villain form, they quietly moved a billion into Swiss banks. If New York has records of the transfers and can prove it, it should file a lawsuit against them in the Southern District Court.
I could never figure out why we tolerate Switzerland’s criminal banking operation.
They have been acting as bankers for criminals forever. Even (especially) for the Nazis.
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/nazis/readings/sinister.html
Well, Duh, because we tolerate the Überrich Reich, and the Überrich demand a safe place to stow away their ill-gotten gains while their send the rest of us off to kill each other.
The privileged-
Jeffrey Epstein evidently “supported education in the STEM field” with $56,000 to a woman’s non-profit in 2017. Reportedly, her non-profit website is now shut down.
Daily Beast provided the context in a report 8-19-19.