Former Purdue Pharma chairman and president Dr. Richard Sackler and his wife, Lin Gao, have been legally barred from interfering with the sale of their multimillion-dollar Connecticut estate, with proceeds earmarked for a $7.4 billion opioid settlement.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane on Wednesday rejected the couple’s motion to overturn his earlier ruling that designated their 10,000-square-foot waterfront mansion in Greenwich, CT, as an asset to be used as collateral to satisfy claims in the complex bankruptcy case.
The settlement resolves tens of thousands of lawsuits filed against the defunct pharmaceutical giant by victims of the deadly, decades-long opioid epidemic, Reuters reported.
Built in 1949 and previously owned by late Purdue Pharma co-founder Dr. Raymond Sackler and his wife, the six-bedroom spread with an inground pool sitting on more than 2 acres of land was sold by one Sackler family trust to another for nearly $63 million in April, as Greenwich Free Press reported, citing assessor records.
Lane ruled that by seeking to thwart or delay the sale of their property, Sackler and Gao had violated the letter and spirit of their agreement to compensate the families of some of the 900,000 Americans who died since 1999 as a result of the opioid crisis linked to Purdue Pharma’s OxyContin painkiller.
“This is not a victimless crime your clients are perpetrating,” Lane told an attorney representing Sackler and Gao. “I am profoundly concerned about the victims of the opioid epidemic having to wait for what’s their due in terms of getting payment, by virtue of this.”
Waterfront property
The judge stressed during the hearing in a White Plains, NY, courtroom that contrary to the couple’s apparent belief, as expressed in their court filings, that the Greenwich property is theirs, “it is not,” Lane said.
While the judge stopped short of ordering Sackler and Gao’s immediate eviction, he warned that eviction and additional court sanctions against the family remain on the table.
Sackler family trustees, who are responsible for selling off assets pledged to fund the bankruptcy settlement, previously requested that Gao and her minor children be ejected from the Greenwich home by Oct. 31 and that all artwork be removed and placed in storage.
Lane pointed out in court that Richard Sackler owns four other homes, including his primary residence in Florida.
In a motion filed on Monday, Sackler’s attorney Stephen Hornung noted that no sale of the Greenwich mansion is currently pending.
Realtor.com® reached out to Hornung for comment on Lane’s decision.
Landmark settlement
Purdue Pharma officially ceased operations this May, and its assets were transferred to an independent public benefit corporation, Knoa Pharma, whose profits will go toward addressing the opioid crisis.
The move came more than six months after a judge approved the historic bankruptcy settlement requiring members of the Sackler clan to pay upward of $7 billion over the next 15 years.
Under the terms of the court-approved agreement, the Sacklers were barred from being involved in the opioid manufacturing business in other countries and agreed not to have their names put on any institutions as part of charitable contributions, according to the Associated Press.
