Press Releases
07/26/2021
Attorney General Tong to Testify Before Congressional Subcommittee on Bankruptcy Abuses and Reform
(Hartford, CT) -- At 10 a.m. on Wednesday, July 28 before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law, Attorney General William Tong will testify in support of reforms to bankruptcy laws. Attorney General Tong will address how reform is needed to close a loophole currently being exploited by the Sackler family to seek to escape accountability and justice for their role in the opioid epidemic.Attorney General Tong remains strongly opposed to a Purdue Pharma bankruptcy plan that would provide a lifetime legal shield to the Sackler family. Purdue’s proposed bankruptcy plan would require the Sackler family to pay $4.3 billion over nine years to the group of states, municipalities and private plaintiffs that sued the company in 2017. The Sackler family made at least $11 billion in profits from producing and deceptively marketing OxyContin, a major driver in the rise of the opioid crisis and, importantly, the Sacker family is not bankrupt or even claiming bankruptcy. The crisis has cost the nation millions of lives and more than $2 trillion in damage.
“We cannot allow wrongdoers to misuse the bankruptcy code to shield their wealth from justice. I intend to show Congress precisely how the Sackler family is abusing and misusing the federal bankruptcy process to evade accountability and preserve their blood money. There are glaring holes in our bankruptcy code that must be exposed and closed,” said Attorney General Tong.
The hearing will be livestreamed via the House Committee on the Judiciary website here: https://judiciary.house.gov/newsroom/watch-live.htm. Additional information on the hearing is available here: House Judiciary Committee Announces Series of Hearings on Bankruptcy Reforms | U.S. Representative Jerry Nadler
Members of Congress are expected to announce this week legislation to prohibit non-bankrupt individuals and businesses from exploiting legal loopholes in the bankruptcy code to shield themselves from litigation.
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Media Contact:
Elizabeth Benton
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