Purdue Pharma LP creditors pressing for confidential documents have provided “no evidence” that members of the billionaire Sackler family committed crimes or fraud while managing the opioid maker, lawyers for the family argue in court papers, Bloomberg News reported. States suing Purdue say that the privileged documents could help show that billions of dollars transferred out of the firm in recent years should belong to creditors. The family has denied allegations of wrongdoing and is fighting to keep the documents confidential. The ongoing battle took a turn in October when Purdue agreed to plead guilty to three felonies related to its handling of OxyContin. Members of the Sackler family that own and previously helped manage the company agreed to a separate $225 million civil settlement, without admitting wrongdoing. In papers filed alongside the civil settlement, the U.S. Department of Justice alleges that despite knowing in 2012 that the legitimate market for opioids had contracted, members of the Sackler family “requested that Purdue executives recapture lost sales and increase Purdue’s share of the opioid market,” resulting in the approval of an “aggressive marketing program” that led to the over-prescribing of the drugs. Creditors cited that deal and Purdue’s plea agreement as evidence of wrongdoing by the Sacklers, but lawyers for the family members point to their continued denial of any misconduct — neither deal included an admission of wrongdoing from the family members. The settlements will provide “substantial funding to communities in need, rather than to years of legal proceedings,” members of the family said in an October statement.
