You’d Be Surprised How Little Richard Sackler Was Punished For the Opioid Crisis (2024)

He was once dubbed a “reckless criminal” for his role in the opioid epidemic but you might be disappointed to know where Richard Sackler is now, because it doesn’t look like he’s been punished much.

Sackler joined Purdue Pharma in 1971 as an assistant to his father Raymond, who was president of the company at the time. The company was initially focused on developing and marketing slow-release pain medications, however, Richard played a significant role in the development and marketing of OxyContin and downplayed the highly addictive qualities of the prescription opioid. Since the mid-90s, over half a million lives have been claimed by opioid-related overdoses.

Pain Killer by Barry Meier

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The family serves as inspiration for Netflix’s new series Painkiller, “a fictionalized retelling of events that explores some of the origins and aftermath of the opioid crisis in America, highlighting the stories of the perpetrators, victims, and truth-seekers whose lives are forever altered by the invention of OxyContin,” per the streamer. “An examination of crime, accountability, and the systems that have repeatedly failed hundreds of thousands of Americans, Painkiller is based on the book by Barry Meier of the same name and the New Yorker Magazine article The Family That Built an Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe.” Here’s where Richard Sackler is now and what happened to him.

Where is Richard Sackler now?

Where is Richard Sackler now? The former president and co-chairman of the board of directors of Purdue Pharma is living a quiet life out of the spotlight in a modest (comparatively) $1.7 million house in Boca Raton in Palm Beach County, Florida.

You’d Be Surprised How Little Richard Sackler Was Punished For the Opioid Crisis (3)

According to the Daily Mail, he’d sold his third luxury property in Beverly Hills worth $20 million, and while that seems like a lot, the Sackler family is still extraordinarily wealthy, despite the $4.5 billion they were required to pay out thousands of lawsuits brought by state and local governments, tribes, hospitals and individuals.

The family is still estimated to be worth up to $15 billion and denied all wrongdoing and asPainkillerpoints out itself: “No member of the Sackler family has ever been criminally charged in connection with the marketing of OxyContin, or any overdose deaths involving the drug.”

In August 2021, Sackler made a rare public appearance testifying in federal bankruptcy court, per the New York Times. In a series of questions, a lawyer posed: “Do you have any responsibility for the opioid crisis in the United States?” “No,” Sackler replied softly. “Does the Sackler family have any responsibility for the opioid crisis in the United States?” Again, “No.” And finally: “Does Purdue Pharma have any responsibility for the opioid crisis in the United States?” He responded: “No.”

Sackler also said he did not know how many Americans had died specifically from OxyContin. “You didn’t think it was necessary, in your role as a chair or president of an opioid company, to determine how many people had died as a result of the use of that product?” asked Brian Edmunds, a Maryland assistant attorney general. “To the best of my knowledge, recollection, that data is not available,” replied Sackler.

Who’s in the Painkiller cast?

In Broderick’s portrayal of him, Sackler “certainly doesn’t think that he’s the bad guy in the story of his life and one of the really interesting things about Matthew is that he’s just an incredibly nice and kind person, which he brings to playing a character who’s morally questionable,” executive producer Pete Berg told Netflix’s Tudum. “He’s found a whole other dimension to what could have been a somewhat one-note character.”

You’d Be Surprised How Little Richard Sackler Was Punished For the Opioid Crisis (4)

Meanwhile, Taylor Kitsch plays a mechanic who, after getting injured on the job, is prescribed OxyContin, which traps him in a vicious cycle of addiction. “Man, it’s pretty close to me, this thing,” he told Tudum. “Unfortunately, I think we’re all one degree away from someone who’s an addict.” He continued: “I’m very lucky to have served a lot of true stories and heavy things. And this is right up there for me in the sense of purpose, of why I get to do what I do.” Here’s the full cast list for Netflix’s Painkiller.

  • Uzo Aduba as Edie
  • Matthew Broderick as Richard Sackler
  • Sam Anderson as Raymond Sackler
  • Taylor Kitsch as Glen Kryger
  • Carolina Bartczak as Lily Kryger
  • Tyler Ritter as John Brownlee
  • John Ales as Dr. Gregory Fitzgibbons
  • Ron Lea as Bill Havens
  • Ana Cruz Kayne as Brianna Ortiz
  • West Duchovny as Shannon Schaeffer
  • Jack Mulhern as Tyler Kryger
  • Dina Shihabi as Britt
  • John Rothman as Mortimer Sackler
  • John Murphy as Michael Friedman
  • Noah Harpster as Dr. Curtis Wright

Painkiller is available to stream on Netflix.

Pain Killer: A “Wonder” Drug’s Trail of Addiction and Death

You’d Be Surprised How Little Richard Sackler Was Punished For the Opioid Crisis (5)

Pain Killertakes readers on a journey of discovery that begins with the true story of Lindsay, a high-school cheerleader in Virginia who gets hooked on Oxys and expands outward to explore the critical issues of legitimate pain management, prescription drug abuse, and how the misuse of science by the drug industry threatens the public good. With the fast-rising abuse of prescription drugs by young people ringing alarm bells within government, the how and why behind the OxyContin disaster is a gripping read not only for parents, but also for medical professionals, community leaders, business executives, and all those concerned with this crisis.

Pain Killer by Barry Meier

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You’d Be Surprised How Little Richard Sackler Was Punished For the Opioid Crisis (2024)

FAQs

What were the Sackler penalties? ›

As the nation continues to grapple with the opioid epidemic, the Sackler family had agreed to pay $6 billion to families and states as part of an agreement to wind down Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin.

What punishment did Purdue Pharma get? ›

The plea was part of a deal with the federal government to settle criminal and civil cases that included $8.3 billion in penalties and forfeitures. But it was to pay only a small fraction — $225 million — so long as it executed the settlement through bankruptcy court.

What happened to Purdue Pharma after the opioid crisis? ›

The first opioid lawsuits were filed against Purdue Pharma around 2014, unleashing a flood of litigation and intensifying scrutiny on the role of members of the Sackler family. In 2019, Purdue Pharma filed for bankruptcy restructuring, which ultimately paused the lawsuits.

Did any Sacklers go to jail? ›

No members of the sackler family have been arrested for the well over 100,000 provable opioid deaths caused by their opioids from Purdue pharmaceutical. Is the 'arrest' of Ghislaine Maxwell staged? What do you do if the police arrests your family member without letting them know the reason?

How much did Sacklers have to pay? ›

Under the negotiated deal, the Sacklers would pay up to $6 billion over nearly two decades to help alleviate the crisis. The settlement plan could ultimately be worth more than $10 billion, Purdue Pharma has said.

Did Purdue Pharma pay victims? ›

Supreme Court blocks Purdue Pharma opioid settlement, threatening billions of dollars for victims. In a loss for the Sackler family, the justices ruled that a bankruptcy judge did not have the authority to let its members evade facing future lawsuits.

Is the Sackler family still rich? ›

Despite selling his $20 million Beverly Hills property, he and the Sackler family remain extraordinarily wealthy.

What did the Sacklers do wrong? ›

Prosecutors did not accuse any Sackler family members of wrongdoing. But they wrote that Richard Sackler was told in 1999 while he was president of Purdue Pharma about discussions in internet chat rooms where drug abusers described snorting OxyContin, which contains oxycodone, a powerful narcotic.

Can you still buy OxyContin in the USA? ›

OxyContin, a trade name for the narcotic oxycodone hydrochloride, is a painkiller available in the United States only by prescription. OxyContin is legitimately prescribed for relief of moderate to severe pain resulting from injuries, bursitis, neuralgia, arthritis, and cancer.

How much will individuals get from a Purdue Pharma settlement? ›

But the Purdue Pharma settlement would have been only the second so far to include direct payments to victims from a $750 million pool. Payouts would have ranged from about $3,500 to $48,000.

How much is the Sackler family worth in 2024? ›

How much is the Sackler family still worth? Even after Purdue Pharma's bankruptcy, the family still has billions. In December 2020, taking into account the fines that the Sacklers have already paid out as settlements, Forbes estimates that the family (around 40 members) is worth about $10.8 billion.

Why haven t Sacklers been criminally charged? ›

In 2007, the family's firm pleaded guilty to charges in a DOJ settlement and agreed to pay more than $600 million in fines, while promising to follow strict new ethics guidelines. The Sacklers then faced no criminal charges.

Did Purdue get fined for OxyContin? ›

A series of lawsuits followed. In 2007, Purdue paid out one of the largest fines ever levied against a pharmaceutical firm for misleading the public about how addictive the drug OxyContin was compared to other pain medications.

How many lawsuits against the Sacklers? ›

If mediation does not succeed, about 2,900 cases from hospitals, insurers, local governments, tribes and individual victims could also go forward against Purdue. The Sacklers have been named in about 900 cases (there is some overlap).

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