As part of Massachusetts' settlement with the Sackler family over their role in the opioid crisis, tens of millions of documents — including confidential and internal Purdue Pharma communications — will be made public.
Attorney General Maura Healey told Boston Public Radio on Thursday that while this settlement doesn't put the Sacklers in jail, the "first-of-its-kind" document disclosure could open the door to criminal charges from the U.S. Department of Justice.
More Local News
"The public repository is going to share 30 million documents that have never been seen — most of which have never been seen before, it'll be very interesting to see what comes out," she said. "And to the extent that there's information there that can be used as evidence in a criminal investigation and prosecution, I hope the Justice Department takes advantage of that."
The settlement also mandates the dissolution of Purdue Pharma and the family paying out $4.3 billion to all states involved in the case for opioid addiction prevention and treament — of which Massachusetts will receive roughly $90 million.
Healey said the Sacklers used the bankruptcy process to shield themselves from litigation, and have hidden for years behind confidentiality agreements, which will now be made public through the settlement.
"It will provide the storytelling, the transparency, the accountability," she said. "And it will also, I hope, inform the steps that Congress needs to take to close loopholes for billionaires, and actions of the U.S. Department of Justice, who I've said for a long time should have been criminally prosecuting the Sackler family."
