Jamie Shona Gorelick is an American lawyer who served as the Deputy Attorney General of the United States from 1994 to 1997,during the Clinton administration. She has been a partner at WilmerHale since 2003 and has served on the board of directors of Amazon since February 2012.
Gerald Leo Posner is an American investigative journalist and author of thirteen books,including Case Closed:Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK (1993),which explores the John F. Kennedy assassination,and Killing the Dream:James Earl Ray and the Assassination of Martin Luther King,Jr. (1998),about the assassination of Martin Luther King,Jr. A plagiarism scandal involving articles that Posner wrote for The Daily Beast and his book Miami Babylon arose in 2010.
Alice Stevens Fisher is an American lawyer and partner at the Washington,D.C. office of Latham &Watkins LLP. Fisher served as Deputy United States Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division from 2001 to 2003 and as an Assistant Attorney General in the Department of Justice Criminal Division for three years,from 2005 to May 23,2008.
Debevoise &Plimpton LLP is an international law firm headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1931 by Eli Whitney Debevoise and William Stevenson,the firm was originally named “Debevoise,Plimpton &McLean”. Debevoise specializes in private equity,financial services transactions,private funds,and international arbitration. In 2021,the firm assisted the Democratic Party in the second impeachment trial of Donald Trump.
Purdue Pharma L.P.,formerly the Purdue Frederick Company (1892–2019),was an American privately held pharmaceutical company founded by John Purdue Gray. It was sold to Arthur,Mortimer,and Raymond Sackler in 1952,and then owned principally by the Sackler family and their descendants.
Raymond Sackler was an American physician and businessman. He acquired Purdue Pharma together with his brothers Arthur M. Sackler and Mortimer Sackler. Purdue Pharma is the developer of OxyContin,the drug at the center of the opioid epidemic in the United States.
John Leslie Brownlee is an American lawyer. He was the United States Attorney for the Western District of Virginia from 2001 to 2008.
Elisse B. Walter was the 30th Chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from December 14,2012 –April 10,2013. She was appointed Chair by President Barack Obama on November 26,2012,and sworn in on December 14,2012. She was originally appointed as one of five SEC Commissioners by President George W. Bush and sworn in on July 9,2008. Under designation by President Obama,she later served as Acting Chair during January 2009. She served as a Commissioner of the SEC until August 9,2013.
Mortimer David Sackler was an American-born psychiatrist and entrepreneur who was a co-owner,with his brothers Arthur and Raymond,of Purdue Pharma. During his lifetime,Sackler's philanthropy included donations to the Metropolitan Museum of Art,the Tate Gallery,the Royal College of Art,the Louvre and Berlin's Jewish Museum.
Gary J. Aguirre is an American lawyer,former investigator with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and whistleblower.
Elizabeth Ann Sackler is a public historian,arts activist,and the daughter of Arthur M. Sackler and descendant of the Sackler family. She is the founder of the American Indian Ritual Object Repatriation Foundation and the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum.
Warren Neil Eggleston is an American lawyer who served as the White House Counsel under President Barack Obama. Eggleston was the fourth person to hold this post during the Obama administration.
Richard Stephen Sackler is an American billionaire businessman and physician who was the chairman and president of Purdue Pharma,a former company best known as the developer of OxyContin,whose initiation of the opioid epidemic in the United States became the subject of many lawsuits and fines,filing for bankruptcy in 2019. It has been claimed that Richard Sackler's Purdue is among "the worst drug dealers in history" and the Sackler family have been described as the "most evil family in America". The company's downfall was the subject of the 2021 Hulu series Dopesick and the 2023 Netflix series Painkiller.
Massachusetts v. Purdue is a lawsuit filed on August 14,2018,suing the Stamford,Connecticut-based company Purdue Pharma LP,which created and manufactures OxyContin,"one of the most widely used and prescribed opioid drugs on the market",and Purdue's owners,the Sacklers accusing them of "widespread fraud and deception in the marketing of opioids,and contributing to the opioid crisis,the nationwide epidemic that has killed thousands." Purdue denied the allegations.
The Sackler family is an American family who owned the pharmaceutical company Purdue Pharma and later founded Mundipharma. Purdue Pharma,and some members of the family,have faced lawsuits regarding overprescription of addictive pharmaceutical drugs,including OxyContin. Purdue Pharma has been criticized for its role in the opioid epidemic in the United States. They have been described as the "most evil family in America",and "the worst drug dealers in history".
The timeline of the opioid epidemic includes selected events related to the origins of Stamford,Connecticut-based Purdue Pharma,the Sackler family,the development and marketing of oxycodone,selected FDA activities related to the abuse and misuse of opioids,the recognition of the opioid epidemic,the social impact of the crisis,lawsuits against Purdue and the Sackler family.
The Crime of the Century is an American two-part documentary film,directed,produced,and written by Alex Gibney. The film follows the opioid epidemic in the United States,and the political operatives,government regulations and corporations that enable the abuse of opioids,particularly the Sackler family and Purdue Pharma.
Joss Sackler is a fashion designer. She is also known for her marriage to David Sackler,whose father Richard Sackler was the chairman and president of Purdue Pharma,and oversaw its manufacturing of the highly addictive opioid Oxycontin,a leading drug in the opioid epidemic.
Andrew J. Ceresney is an American lawyer at Debevoise &Plimpton and a former government official who served as director of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Enforcement.
Curtis Wright IV is an American former government official known for his role in the Food and Drug Administration's approval of OxyContin for Purdue Pharma in 1995,followed by his subsequent employment by the company,which led to portrayals in films and reports in nonfiction books,magazines,and news media outlets of his alleged role as one of the key figures in the current opioid epidemic in the United States. Wright was implicated in a criminal conspiracy outlined in a 2006 United States Department of Justice review document that was first made public in Purdue Pharma's 2019 bankruptcy proceedings. Although that case was settled in a 2007 plea agreement deal,members of United States Congress have requested the full 2006 documentation from the Department of Justice with the goal of opening a new case based upon the evidence then gathered. Parts of Wright's sworn depositions in 2003 and 2018 have internal contradictions and differ from documentary evidence described the 2003–2006 U.S. Federal Government investigation into Purdue Pharma.
