The key consulting agency McKinsey & Firm pays $650 million to resolve felony and civil investigations into its consulting for Purdue Pharma, the corporate that helped to gasoline America’s opioid epidemic by way of its OxyContin prescription drug.
“First and foremost, at bottom, this is a case about real people,” stated U.S. Lawyer Joshua S. Levy. “This is a case about the thousands and thousands of people who’ve lost their lives to opioid addiction over the last many years.”
The investigation was led by Levy’s workplace in addition to the U.S. Lawyer’s workplace for the Western District of Virginia. Each Levy and his Western Virginia counterpart, Christopher Kavanaugh, introduced the event in a press convention on the U.S. Lawyer’s workplace in Boston’s federal courthouse.
“This was not just marketing. It was a strategy. It was executed and it worked. McKinsey’s strategy resulted in prescriptions for OxyContin that were unsafe, medically unnecessary, and lacked a legitimate purpose and were often diverted,” Kavanaugh stated on the briefing.
Kavanaugh burdened that the cash reached within the five-year deferred prosecution settlement was greater than 85 instances the amount of cash McKinsey earned as a advisor within the “turbocharge” plan to extend OxyContin gross sales.
“We believe this sends a powerful message to consulting industry going forward,” he stated.
Whereas the sum could ship a robust message, FBI Boston Particular Agent in Cost Jodi Cohen stated that “No amount of money can make up for the devastating impact of the heartbreaking loss of life the opioid crisis has inflicted on the people of Massachusetts and this nation.
“But today’s settlement is a reminder that if you capitalize on a crisis by putting profits over patient safety and then try to obstruct a federal investigation, you will pay a hefty price,” she stated.
It is a creating story.
Initially Printed:
