A federal bankruptcy court judge on Friday said he would approve OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma’s latest deal to settle thousands of lawsuits over the toll of opioids that includes some money for thousands of victims of the epidemic.
The deal overseen by US bankruptcy judge Sean Lane would require some of the multibillionaire members of the semi-reclusive Sackler family who own the company to contribute up to $7bn and give up ownership of the Connecticut-based firm.
The new agreement replaces one the US supreme court rejected last year, finding it would have improperly protected members of the family against future lawsuits. The judge said he would explain his decision in a hearing on Tuesday.
You’re right but it’s more than just fear of change. The people who abuse the status quo and therefore have the most to lose if such a chanhe is implemented also own all the major media outlets. They would unleash a storm of disinformation and propaganda that would blackball any measure even remotely reminiscent of this for three venerations the very moment it was seriously proposed by a politician. Not to mention a smear campaign against said politician, possibly including fabricating evidence of criminal activity.
Quite true, many entrenched interests want no accountability. Look at the ‘regulation’ of big banks after 2008— a lot of nothing. Nobody went to jail. Taxpayers bailed out the system, investors made whole or nearly whole. What should have been a ‘party’s over’ moment became a ‘back to business as usual’ moment.