Attorney General James Secures Approval of Purdue Bankruptcy Plan

NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James today secured the approval of Purdue Pharma’s bankruptcy plan after U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane confirmed the plan in a bench ruling. The approval of the plan is a significant step in finalizing the $7.4 billion settlement secured by Attorney General James with Purdue and its owners, the Sackler family, for their leading role in fueling the opioid crisis.

“For decades, the Sacklers ran Purdue with one goal in mind: maximizing profits for their family, no matter the cost,” said Attorney General James. “Purdue was at the very center of the opioid crisis, fueling addictions and overdoses with deceptive marketing and sales tactics. While no amount of money will ever fully reverse the damage they caused, securing this bankruptcy plan brings us one step closer to delivering critical funding to communities impacted by the opioid crisis.”

Under the Sacklers’ leadership, Purdue developed, manufactured, and aggressively marketed opioid products for decades. Its aggressive and misleading marketing tactics fueled waves of addiction and overdoses across the country. While opioid overdose deaths have declined in New York, nine New Yorkers died of a fatal opioid overdose every day in 2024.

As part of the bankruptcy plan approved by the court, the Sacklers will no longer have any involvement with Purdue. The new company will be owned by an independent nonprofit foundation and overseen by a new board. The company will continue to be barred from marketing its opioid products, lobbying, and using opioid sales metrics for compensation by a court-ordered injunction. Its court-appointed monitor will continue to oversee the company to ensure compliance. After operating expenses, the company’s excess revenue will be distributed to state and local governments and the foundation to support opioid abatement. 

In January 2025, Attorney General James announced a $7.4 billion settlement with Purdue and the Sacklers that will deliver funds for 15 years to support addiction treatment, prevention, and recovery programs. The Sacklers will pay $1.5 billion and Purdue will pay roughly $900 million in the first payment, expected in early 2026 pending settlement approval. Subsequent payments will be $500 million after one year, an additional $500 million after two years, and $400 million after three years. New York will receive up to $250 million total. In June, 55 attorneys general, representing all eligible states and U.S. territories, agreed to the settlement. In addition, approximately 9,300 local governments have opted into the settlement.

With the addition of up to $250 million from this settlement, Attorney General James has secured New York state more than $3 billion from opioid manufacturers and distributors for their role in the opioid epidemic. These include Mylan, Indivior, Amneal Pharmaceuticals, Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson, Mallinckrodt, Allergan, Endo, McKesson, Cardinal Health, and Amerisource Bergen. Attorney General James has also led multistate coalitions in reaching settlements for billions of dollars with CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart for their roles in failing to properly regulate opioid prescriptions. Additionally, Attorney General James co-led a bipartisan coalition of states in securing settlements with consulting firm McKinsey & Company and the marketing firm Publicis Health for their role in fueling the opioid crisis. 

Joining Attorney General James in this settlement in principle are the attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, American Samoa, the District of Columbia, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

This matter was handled for New York by First Deputy Attorney General Jennifer Levy, Senior Advisor and Special Counsel M. Umair Khan, former Special Counsel David Nachman, Special Counsel Andrew Amer, Assistant Attorney General and Special Assistant to the First Deputy Gina Bull, and Special Counsel for Complex Litigation Colleen Faherty, with the support of all of the Executive Division, along with Senior Advisor to the Criminal Division Gary Fishman, former Special Counsel Eric Haren, Civil Recoveries Section Chief Martin Mooney, Assistant Attorney General Noah Popp of the Consumer Frauds Bureau, Assistant Attorney General Robert Rock of Civil Recoveries, Assistant Attorneys General Jennifer Simcovitch and Eve Wooden of the Health Care Bureau, and the indispensable contributions of the Research and Analytics Department, including the work of the Director of Research and Analytics Victoria Khan, former Data Scientist Ken Morales and Data Scientist Blake Rubey, and Paige Podolny, Kristin Petrella, Hewson Chen, and Darlene Eng of the Practice Technologies Group, and Legal Support Analyst Labiba Hasan.