Law [Purdue Pharma's Opioid Lawsuit] Supreme Court Hears Arguments Against $6 Billion Settlement That Grants The Sackler Family Civil Immunity

When the "justice department" collects money like this, where does that money go? Does anybody know

Same as always: Most of it go to the Treasury Department, and the rest go to other Federal agencies involved.

Example from the BOA settlement:

Nearly half the $16.6 billion went to the Department of Justice. DoJ sent just over $6 billion of that to the Treasury Department, which went into the general fund that pays for government operations, much in the same way taxes do.

A smattering of federal agencies connected to the settlement also received money, including the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Federal Housing Administration, and Securities and Exchange Commission.

https://www.marketplace.org/2018/09/19/17-billion-bank-settlement-where-did-money-go/amp/
 
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I’m conflicted here, not gonna lie. Drone strike or lifetime in prison
 
So sort of what @Sketch said, then?
"We gave it to the Treasury Department"
<Fedor23>
This stuff writes itself.

'The Treasury Department'

It's literally there in the name for all to see.
 
So sort of what @Sketch said, then?
"We gave it to the Treasury Department"
<Fedor23>

When a law-breaker pays a fine to the city, it goes into the city's treasury.

When a law-breaker pays a fine to the State, it goes go to the State's treasury.

When a law-breaker pays a fine to the Federal government, it goes into the country's treasury.

That's literally how government fines works since 1776.
 
When a law-breaker pays a fine to the city, it goes into the city's treasury.

When a law-breaker pays a fine to the State, it goes go to the State's treasury.

When a law-breaker pays a fine to the Federal government, it goes into the country's treasury.

That's literally how government fines works since 1776.
I hear you, I'm just not naive enough to believe people don't get their hands in there. We're being robbed at every level, fed to local are stealing from us. Easy to skim some in those big cases, too.
 
I am sure they realized much of the harm that opioids were doing but these drugs were prescribed by providers and dispensed by pharmacies and paid for by insurance companies. There are a lot of people and parties involved in this who not are getting the blame the companies are. Lots of doctors had numerous of their patients OD and never changed their prescription patterns. Insurance companies know what their patients are being prescribed.

Has one insurance company been held accountable?

Something just occurred to me, I bet the parents trying to cheat their kids into good colleges do more prison time than any pharmaceutical executive will over the opioids.

Just a guess.

Like
 
I hear you, I'm just not naive enough to believe people don't get their hands in there. We're being robbed at every level, fed to local are stealing from us. Easy to skim some in those big cases, too.

Hmm...sounds like you guys are making some sort of vague overture to corruption, perhaps some kind of theft of the collected fines...?

I can't really offer any comment on that unless you make it clear who is involved, which agency stole the money, which case they stole it from, along with some kind of circumstancial evidence :)

What I do know is that the bean-counters over at the Treasury are not fond of being short-changed. If the actual payment is a single dollar short, they wouldn't let it slide.
 
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When a law-breaker pays a fine to the city, it goes into the city's treasury.

When a law-breaker pays a fine to the State, it goes go to the State's treasury.

When a law-breaker pays a fine to the Federal government, it goes into the country's treasury.

That's literally how government fines works since 1776.
So then... who is the drug dealer here
 
Don't care. Those 18 year old's had chances to be pharmacists on the street, but they fell for the meme of a degree. That's on them. It's 2019.

In Canada?

Funny how you equated an 18 year old with a pharmacist, not the heads of an international pharma conglomerate. Betrays your shitty charge, as if it wasn't obvious.

Anything to suck that plutocrat cock...........
 
In Canada?

Funny how you equated an 18 year old with a pharmacist, not the heads of an international pharma conglomerate. Betrays your shitty charge, as if it wasn't obvious.

Anything to suck that plutocrat cock...........

Did you just quote me from a year ago?
 
U.S sues Walmart for alleged role in fueling opioid crisis
Alexa Mencia

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The U.S. Justice Department sued Walmart Inc on Tuesday, accusing the retailer of fueling the opioid crisis in the country and ignoring warning signs from its pharmacists, according to a court filing.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. district court in Delaware, alleges Walmart failed to take its gatekeeping duties as a pharmacy seriously.

Federal law required Walmart to spot suspicious orders for controlled substances and report those to the Drug Enforcement Administration, but prosecutors charge the company didn’t do that.

Walmart couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

The company, which is the world’s biggest retailer, created a system that turned its 5,000 in-store pharmacies into a supplier of highly addictive painkillers, dating as early as June 2013, the lawsuit said.

Walmart’s actions helped “fuel a national crisis,” said Jeffrey Bossert Clark, the acting head of the Justice Department’s civil division, who declined to say how much precisely the government was seeking in penalties from Walmart.

The retailer’s shares fell about 2% following the news.

The government’s complaint also said “Walmart managers put enormous pressure on pharmacists to fill prescriptions – requiring pharmacists to process a high volume of prescriptions as fast as possible, while at the same time denying them the authority to categorically refuse to fill prescriptions issued by prescribers the pharmacists knew were continually issuing invalid prescriptions.”

Walmart issued a statement Tuesday reacting to the lawsuit:

The Justice Department’s investigation is tainted by historical ethics violations, and this lawsuit invents a legal theory that unlawfully forces pharmacists to come between patients and their doctors, and is riddled with factual inaccuracies and cherry-picked documents taken out of context. Blaming pharmacists for not second-guessing the very doctors the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) approved to prescribe opioids is a transparent attempt to shift blame from DEA’s well-documented failures in keeping bad doctors from prescribing opioids in the first place.

In contrast to DEA’s own failures, Walmart always empowered our pharmacists to refuse to fill problematic opioids prescriptions, and they refused to fill hundreds of thousands of such prescriptions. Walmart sent DEA tens of thousands of investigative leads, and we blocked thousands of questionable doctors from having their opioid prescriptions filled at our pharmacies.

By demanding pharmacists and pharmacies second-guess doctors, the Justice Department is putting pharmacists and pharmacies between a rock and a hard place with state health regulators who say they are already going too far in refusing to fill opioid prescriptions. Ultimately, patients are caught in the middle.

Walmart already sued the Department and DEA to stand up for our pharmacists, and we will keep defending our pharmacists as we fight this new lawsuit in court.

The allegations come months after the retailer filed a preemptive lawsuit in October against the federal government.

In its lawsuit, Walmart said the Justice Department’s investigation — launched in 2016 — had identified hundreds of doctors who wrote problematic prescriptions that Walmart’s pharmacists should not have filled. But the lawsuit charged that nearly 70% of the doctors still have active registrations with the DEA.

Walmart’s lawsuit alleged the government was blaming it for the lack of regulatory and enforcement policies to stem the crisis. The company is asking a federal judge to declare the government has no basis to seek civil damages; the suit remains ongoing.

The opioid epidemic has claimed the lives of roughly 450,000 people across the United States since 1999 due to overdoses from prescription painkillers and illegal drugs.

https://www.wavy.com/news/politics/us-sues-walmart-for-alleged-role-in-fueling-opioid-crisis/amp/
 
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States reach $26 billion deal with three wholesalers and J&J to end opioid lawsuits
By Ed Silverman | July 21, 2021​



Three of the largest pharmaceutical wholesalers and a major drug maker reached a $26 billion deal to settle lawsuits filed by state governments accusing the companies of fomenting the opioid crisis, which has claimed half a million lives over nearly two decades.

As part of the settlement, the wholesalers – McKesson (MCK), AmerisourceBergen (ABC) and Cardinal Health (CAH) – will pay up to $21 billion over the next 18 years, while Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) agreed to pay up to $5 billion over nine years and exit the opioid business. More than 40 states are expected to agree to the settlement, according to North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein.

Roughly 3,000 lawsuits filed by states, counties, cities, and tribes claimed the wholesalers failed to monitor suspicious shipments. Drug makers were accused of downplaying the risk of addiction to opioid painkillers while simultaneously encouraging doctors to overprescribe the medicines.

More than 93,000 people died from drug overdoses in 2020, a 30% increase from 2019 and the highest number ever recorded, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. The toll strained communities across the country as they sought to cope with the costs of overdoses and deaths. A substantial share of the settlement funds is expected to be spent on opioid treatment and prevention.

“This epidemic was created by an army of pharmaceutical executives, who decided they wanted to put their profits above the health and well-being” of the public,” said Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro during a media briefing announcing the settlement. The agreement does not make any mention of criminal charges, though, and New York Attorney General Letitia James declined to comment when asked if any charges might be filed at a later date.

State governments have 30 days to sign on to the deal and if enough choose to accept the agreement – which attorneys for plaintiffs refer to as ‘critical mass’ – the next step requires enough local governments to agree to the deal. The local governments will have another 120 days to do so. If the proposed settlement clears those hurdles, it can proceed. Native American tribes are not part the agreement, though.

In total, the states project they will reach approximately $32.7 billion in settlements with opioid makers, wholesalers and pharmacies, according to Stein. The wholesalers previously reached a $215 million agreement with two Ohio counties, for instance. And litigation is continuing in various courts around the country, including in West Virginia, New York and California, where lawsuits were filed by local governments.

[UPDATE: Later, Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson rejected the settlement, calling it “deficient,” and indicated a trial scheduled for Sept. 7 will proceed. In explaining his decision, Ferguson maintained the “real value is substantially less” than the estimated $517.5 million that the state, as well as counties and cities, would receive over 18 years due to the impact of inflation.]

The settlement, which had been negotiated for nearly two years, was greeted cautiously by a coalition of public health groups that, earlier this year, issued a set of guidelines for using settlement funds. These included investing in local health programs; relying on medical evidence to best deploy the money; invest in youth prevention, focus on racial equity, and develop a fair and transparent process for decisions.

“Billions of dollars from opioid settlement funding will provide states and localities with a unique opportunity to address critical gaps in our current prevention, treatment, and recovery infrastructure. By following these five core principles, states can ensure that this funding will support evidence-based approaches that can make a lasting impact on the addiction crisis,” said Mark McClellan, who heads the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy and a former Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Administrator, in a statement.

The settlement also calls for the creation of a centralized and independent clearinghouse to provide the wholesalers and state regulators with aggregated data about where and how often drugs are shipped. The goal is to eliminate “blind spots” in the current distribution systems. The companies are also expected to crack down on suspicious pharmacy orders and boost oversight of anti-diversion programs.

Meanwhile, Purdue Pharma, which marketed OxyContin, is awaiting an Aug. 9 hearing on its bankruptcy proposal. Under its plan, some members of the Sackler family who own the drug maker would contribute more than $4.3 billion to compensate people and local governments that were harmed by its opioid painkiller.

In addition, Purdue will be wound down or sold by 2024, the Sacklers will be banned from the opioid business, and they must relinquish control of family foundations to an independent trustee. In exchange, the Sackler family members will receive immunity from further lawsuits. The proposal has sparked backlash among some state attorneys general, who argue Sackler family members are walking away with considerable wealth.

https://www.statnews.com/pharmalot/2021/07/21/opioid-settlement-johnson-and-johnson-mckesson/
 
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"That prospect all but vanished Wednesday after a bankruptcy judge conditionally approved a settlement worth an estimated $10 billion. It was a deal that left many of those families feeling they didn't get what they really wanted.

There was no apology from members of the Sackler family who own Purdue Pharma, they weren’t forced to give up all of their vast fortune, and there was no chance to confront them face-to-face about the lives lost to opioids."

Such a different set of rules...
 
Billionaire Sacklers’ immunity threatened as DOJ moves to block opioid deal
By Beth Mole | 09/16/2021​

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Members of P.A.I.N. (Prescription Addiction Intervention Now) and Truth Pharm staged a protest outside Purdue Pharma headquarters over the recent controversial opioid settlement.
The Department of Justice is fighting to strip the billionaire Sackler family of the sweeping legal immunity granted as part of a controversial $4.5 billion opioid settlement.

The department filed a motion late Wednesday to block the implementation of the settlement until appeals can be heard in a higher court. Attorneys for the department argued that some aspects of the deal could go into effect quickly, complicating the appeal, according to NPR. Along with the DOJ, Connecticut, Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Washington state are also preparing to fight the settlement.

The Justice Department also requested an expedited hearing within the next two weeks.

William Harrington, who serves as US trustee for the Justice Department, said in filings Wednesday that Federal Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain was wrong to approve the settlement on September 1 and that the decision would likely be overturned.

The settlement essentially dissolves Purdue Pharma, which was owned and largely run by the Sacklers. The company aggressively and deceptively marketed OxyContin beginning in the 1990s and is largely seen as sparking the devastating epidemic of opioid addiction and overdoses that has killed nearly 500,000 people in the US over the last two decades. Purdue pleaded guilty twice for wrongdoing in its marketing of OxyContin in that time. The settlement put to rest thousands of opioid-related lawsuits against Purdue, which had declared bankruptcy under the crushing litigation.

The Sacklers were directly involved in Purdue's opioid business and, by their own account, pocketed more than $10 billion from opioid sales. But the family has repeatedly claimed no wrongdoing and said it acted ethically.

Undone deal
Still, as part of the settlement, the Sacklers agreed to never again manufacture opioids and provide $4.325 billion to fund opioid addiction prevention, treatment, and recovery programs. They also agreed to hand over control of family foundations valued at no less than $175 million.

But that $4.5 billion agreement came with a big string attached: the Sacklers demanded that they be granted legal immunity from future opioid-related claims. Such liability releases can be granted in bankruptcy cases, but the Sacklers themselves did not file for bankruptcy.

Judge Drain, who himself called the settlement a "bitter result," argued in his approval of the deal that it was the best way to get any money out of the Sacklers. "I believe that at least some of the Sackler parties also have liability for those [opioid] claims... I would have expected a higher settlement," he said. But "without the releases, the plan would unravel."

In filings Wednesday, DOJ trustee Harrington argued that the releases are unconstitutional because they deprive people of the ability to make legal claims—a form of property—against the Sacklers, according to The Wall Street Journal.

"The Sackler family's attempt to hold [Purdue's] reorganization hostage unless the non-debtor releases are imposed does not justify taking third parties' property... without their consent, adequate notice, or any opportunity to be heard," Harrington said.

https://arstechnica.com/science/202...ened-as-doj-moves-to-block-opioid-deal/?amp=1
 
This is a witch hunt predicated on a total hoax being carried out by a lot of very, very bad people. Perdue's manufacture of Oxycontin was perfect. It was a perfect manufacture.
Some are saying the greatest manufacture of all-time!
 
Drug distributors strike 1st opioid settlement with Native American tribe for $75 million
By Nate Raymond | September 28, 2021​

(Reuters) -The three largest U.S. drug distributors will pay more than $75 million to resolve claims they fueled an opioid epidemic in the Cherokee Nation's territory in Oklahoma, marking the first settlement with a tribal government in the litigation over the U.S. addiction crisis.

Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin on Tuesday said the settlement, which will be paid over 6-1/2 years, would "enable us to increase our investments in mental health treatment facilities and other programs to help our people recover."

The deal announced by the Cherokee Nation came after distributors McKesson Corp, AmerisourceBergen Corp and Cardinal Health Inc, along with the drugmaker Johnson & Johnson, agreed to pay up to $26 billion to resolve similar claims by states and local governments.

That settlement did not cover any of the country's Native American tribes. The three distributors are in talks to resolve those cases, and other companies continue to face similar lawsuits.

Drugmakers Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd and Endo International Plc on Tuesday separately said they agreed to pay $15 million and $7.5 million, respectively, to resolve claims they contributed to the opioid epidemic in Louisiana. Teva will also donate $3 million worth of medications.

The distributors in a statement called the deal "an important step toward reaching a broader settlement with all federally recognized Native American tribes across the country." The companies deny wrongdoing.

The Cherokee Nation became the first Native American tribe to sue drug distributors and pharmacy operators in 2017. The sovereign Cherokee Nation has more than 390,000 citizens.

It accused the distributors of flooding its territory with millions of prescription opioid pills, an oversupply of addictive painkillers that resulted in abuse and overdose deaths that disproportionately affected Native Americans.

More than 3,300 similar lawsuits have been filed by states, counties, cities and tribal governments. Nearly 500,000 people died due to opioid overdoses in the United States from 1999 to 2019, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Cherokee Nation, represented by the law firms Boies Schiller Flexner, Fields PLLC, and Whitten Burrage, also sued pharmacy operators CVS Health, Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc and Walmart Inc. They deny wrongdoing.

https://news.yahoo.com/exclusive-drug-distributors-strike-first-154919144.html
 
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