Purdue's proposed settlement could be in trouble after it was revealed how much Sacklers profited

Purdue Pharma headquarters.
(Image credit: TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images)

It's becoming a little clearer just how much cash the Sackler family raked in from their ownership of Purdue Pharma, the pharmaceutical giant known for making OxyContin and allegedly playing a major role in the opioid epidemic plaguing the United States.

Bankruptcy court filings revealed that Purdue reportedly sent $12 billion or $13 billion in profits to the Sacklers, The Wall Street Journal reports, though it's not clear what years the distribution covered.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.