As the Sackler family worked through a plan to pay $6.5 billion to resolve their liability over Purdue Pharma LP’s production of addictive opioids, the epidemic hit even closer to home.
Joss Sackler, the wife of former Purdue board member David Sackler, admitted deleting WhatsApp messages showing she was the intended recipient of a shipment of prescription drugs seized by US border agents in 2024. Sackler, who said she was addicted to opioids at the time, pleaded guilty to obstructing a federal grand jury investigation into the transaction.
“I am so truly sorry that when I was suffering from my addiction I made these poor choices and I am grateful for the medical care I have been able to get in my recovery,” Sackler, 41, said in a statement after pleading guilty to a single felony count of obstruction of justice at a hearing in Miami Wednesday.
The opioid epidemic saw more than 800,000 people die from overdoses between 1999 and 2023. Many laid much of the blame on OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, which filed for bankruptcy in 2019 facing more than 2,600 opioid addiction lawsuits and the next year pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy and fraud charges related to its business practices.
A box containing the drugs from outside the country was seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection at Miami International Airport in June 2024, triggering the probe by Homeland Security Investigations. That was the same month the Supreme Court blocked a previous Purdue opioid settlement, ruling it would improperly shield the Sackler family from lawsuits.
Sackler, who has a Ph.D. in linguistics and launched a women’s fashion brand in 2019, told federal officials she was the intended recipient of the drugs within days after learning of the investigation, according to her lawyer. She faces a maximum of 20 years in prison when sentenced in July, though federal sentencing guidelines will likely call for a more lenient punishment.
“This unfortunate situation involves Joss’s personal health and conduct, entirely unrelated to Purdue Pharma or any other members of her family,” her lawyer, Walter Norkin, said in a statement. “Joss has taken full responsibility for her mistake, and fortunately has been able to receive the treatment she needed to recover.”
At the time agents seized the box of drugs meant for Sackler in June 2024, the US Supreme Court was about to issue a 5-4 decision that blocked a bankruptcy plan calling for the Sackler family to pay as much as $6 billion in exchange for a release from all current and future opioid-related lawsuits.
The ruling led to wrangling over a replacement plan that is expected to provide $7.4 billion in payments to address nationwide harm caused by the mass marketing and production of addictive painkillers. That deal shuttered Purdue Pharma for good on May 1.
The bankruptcy plan requires the Sackler family owners to pay $6.5 billion to victims and fund local government efforts to address opioid addiction. No member of the Sackler family was charged with a crime related to the company’s actions.
David Sackler is the son of former Purdue Chief Executive Officer Richard Sackler and was a member of the company’s board before its bankruptcy. He had been more willing to speak publicly about his family and company than most of his relatives, cooperating with a 2019 Vanity Fair profile and testifying before Congress the following year.
The case is US v. Sackler, 26-cr-20177, US District Court, Southern District of Florida (Miami).
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