Judge postpones OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma's sentencing to let opioid
victims attend in person
[April 22, 2026]
By GEOFF MULVIHILL
A judge on Tuesday delayed the criminal sentencing of OxyContin maker
Purdue Pharma in order to allow victims to attend the court proceeding
in person.
U.S. District Judge Madeline Cox Arleo originally planned to hand down
the sentence Tuesday during a court hearing conducted only by
videoconferencing. But she said she changed her mind after seeing some
victims of the opioid crisis protesting outside her courthouse in
Newark, New Jersey. She said they should be allowed to attend in person,
too, and moved the hearing to next Tuesday.
When it happens, Arleo is expected to order the company to forfeit $225
million to the Justice Department, clearing the way for the company to
finalize a settlement of nearly all of the thousands of lawsuits it
faces over its role in the opioid crisis.
The penalty was agreed to in a 2020 pact to resolve federal civil and
criminal probes it was facing. If the judge signs off, other penalties
will not be collected in return for Purdue settling the other lawsuits.
After years of legal twists and turns, the settlement was approved by
another judge last year and Purdue said it could still be effective May
1 if the sentence is given on the scheduled date. The settlement
requires members of the Sackler family who own the company to pay up to
$7 billion to state, local and Native American tribal governments, some
individual victims and others.
A sentence years in the making
Purdue pleaded guilty to three federal criminal charges in November
2020.
The Stamford, Connecticut-based company admitted that it did not have an
effective program to keep its powerful prescription painkillers from
being diverted to the black market, even though it told the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration that it did.
It also admitted that it paid doctors through a speakers program to
prescribe the drugs and paid an electronic medical records company to
send doctors information on patients that encouraged more opioid
prescriptions.
Although Purdue produced only a fraction of the opioid pills that
flooded the market in the 2000s, advocates have long seen aggressive
sales of OxyContin as one of the touchstones of the crisis. At a 1996
event to rally Purdue’s sales force, Richard Sackler, then a top Purdue
executive and later president of the company, called for a “blizzard of
prescriptions.”
While Purdue is expected to pay $225 million, the government agreed in
the plea deal not to collect $5.3 billion in criminal forfeitures and
fines and $2.8 billion in civil liabilities. Instead, portions of that
money are considered part of the broader settlement — and the federal
government will receive a small slice of that.
Up to $7 billion from Sackler family members
The broader settlement calls for members of the Sackler family who own
the company to contribute up to $7 billion over 15 years. Most of the
money is to go to government entities to use to fight the opioid crisis.
It's among the largest in a series of settlements by drugmakers,
wholesalers and pharmacies in recent years — and the only major one that
includes payments for some individual victims or their survivors.
Together, the settlements are worth more than $50 billion, and most of
the money is to be used to address the overdose epidemic.
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Tanny Austin cries while looking at tombstones with the names of
victims of the opioid crisis, including her son Sean Austin, during
a rally outside of a courthouse in Newark, N.J., Tuesday, April 21,
2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Under the Purdue deal, members of the Sackler family would be
shielded from lawsuits over opioids from those who agree to the
payments.
Purdue itself would cease to exist and be replaced by a new company,
Knoa Pharma, which would operate for the public benefit and have a
board appointed by the states.
The reorganization is considered one of the most complicated ever.
By the end of last year, Purdue had paid law firms and other
professionals working on all sides of the case more than $1 billion,
according to a court filing.
The sentencing doesn't include the company's
owners
Members of the Sackler family have long been cast as villains in the
opioid crisis, seeking to increase profits even as it became clear
people were becoming addicted to OxyContin and overdosing.
But no members of the family were charged.
Family members received $10.7 billion in payments from Purdue from
2008 to 2018 -- with nearly half of it used to pay taxes on behalf
of Purdue. They have not been paid by the company since 2018 — and
the last of the family members left Purdue's board in 2019.
Under the settlement, they would not object if their names are
removed from museums and other institutions they've supported —
something that's already happening.
Some victims want people prosecuted
More than 54,000 people with personal injury claims against Purdue
voted to accept the settlement, and 218 voted against it.
Still, some victims and their family members have
been pushing back for years, asserting that the settlement and the
guilty plea stop short of justice for victims of a crisis that has
been linked to 900,000 deaths in the U.S. since 1999.
The sentencing will give them another chance to make that case.
Outside the courthouse Tuesday, Stacy Schwab said she was dependent
on OxyContin 20 years ago, that opioids killed one family member,
and that another is struggling with addiction and insurance doesn't
cover the treatment she needs. That makes Schwab furious at Sackler
family members.
“My family just doesn’t have the money to pay for private treatment
for her, while they’re sitting on billions of dollars,” Schwab said.
Like others, she said it's good that the judge is giving victims a
chance to be heard.
Meanwhile Tuesday, a lawyer filed a request that the federal
government’s expected $225 million be used for victims' medical
care.
___
Associated Press reporters Alanna Durkin Richer and Emily Wang
contributed to this article.
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