The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government,created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market manipulation.
Debevoise &Plimpton LLP is an international law firm headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1931 by Harvard Law School alumnus Eli Whitney Debevoise and Oxford-trained William Stevenson,the firm was originally named “Debevoise,Plimpton &McLean”. Debevoise specializes in private equity,M&A,insurance and financial services transactions,private funds,complex litigation,investigations,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,is an American privately held pharmaceutical company founded by John Purdue Gray. It was owned principally by members of the Sackler family as descendants of Mortimer and Raymond Sackler. In 2007,it paid out one of the largest fines ever levied against a pharmaceutical firm for misleading the public about how addictive the drug OxyContin was compared to other pain medications. In September 2021 Purdue Pharma announced that it rebrand itself as Knoa Pharma. Although the company shifted its focus to abuse-deterrent formulations,Purdue continued to market and sell opioids as late as 2019 and continued to be involved in lawsuits around the opioid epidemic in the United States. Purdue filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on September 15,2019,in New York City.
Eric R. Dinallo is a partner and chair of the insurance regulatory practice at Debevoise &Plimpton LLP and a member of the firm’s Financial Institutions and White Collar &Regulatory Defense Groups. Formerly Executive Vice President,Chief Legal Counsel at The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America,Inc. Formerly Superintendent of Insurance for New York State,he was nominated by Governor Eliot Spitzer and confirmed by the New York State Senate on April 18,2007 as the 39th Superintendent of the New York State Insurance Department. On May 28,2009 he announced his resignation and subsequently left state government service to become a visiting professor at New York University's Stern School of Business. On August 24,2009,Dinallo announced that he was preparing for a possible campaign for the elected office of New York State Attorney General. He was defeated in the primary on September 14,2010 by Eric T. Schneiderman,who went on to win the office in the general election.
Mary Lovelace Schapiro served as the 29th Chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). She was appointed by President Barack Obama,unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate,and assumed the Chairship on January 27,2009. She is the first woman to be the permanent Chair of the SEC. In 2009,Forbes ranked her the 56th most powerful woman in the world.
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.
Robert S. Khuzami was the Deputy U.S. Attorney for the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York until March 22,2019. He previously was a United States federal prosecutor and Assistant United States Attorney for the office,and a former director of the Division of Enforcement of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He was previously a partner at law firm Kirkland &Ellis. and general counsel of Deutsche Bank AG.
Mortimer David Sackler was an American-born British psychiatrist and entrepreneur who was a co-owner,with his brother 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.
Lorna Gail Tiangco Schofield is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Carmen Milagros Ortiz is an attorney,college instructor,and former United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts.
Elizabeth Ann Sackler is a public historian,arts activist,and the daughter of Arthur M. Sackler. 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 company best known as the developer of OxyContin,whose connection to the opioid epidemic in the United States was the subject of multiple lawsuits and fines.
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 founded and owned the pharmaceutical companies Purdue Pharma and 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","drug dealers" 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.
Andrew J. Ceresney is an American lawyer at Debevoise &Plimpton and former government official who served as director of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Enforcement.
Charlotte A. Burrows is an American attorney and government official. Since 2021,Burrows has served as Chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Burrows first joined the agency as a commissioner in 2015,and previously served as an associate deputy attorney general. A member of the Democratic Party,Burrows also served as an aide and counsel to Senator Ted Kennedy.
Curtis Wright IV is a Master of Public Health with a medical degree who has specialized in pharmaceutical risk management. Wright's role in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's approval of OxyContin for Purdue Pharma L.P. in 1995,followed by his subsequent employment by the company,has 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 U.S. 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 U.S. 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.
