Purdue Pharma Pleads Guilty to Charges in the Opioid Crisis
More than two decades after it started marketing OxyContin, Purdue Pharma on Tuesday admitted its tactics contributed to the nation’s deadly opioid epidemic that has been blamed for hundreds of thousands of American deaths.
Purdue pleaded guilty during a video hearing before a federal judge in Newark, New Jersey, to conspiracy charges that stemmed from the company’s aggressive marketing of OxyContin and other opioid products.
The plea to three felonies — conspiracy to defraud the United States and two counts of conspiracy to violate the federal anti-kickback statute — was part of a settlement with the Justice Department that required Purdue to pay more than $8 billion, though the actual amount will likely be far less and determined through bankruptcy.
