Sorry About That Opioid Thing
This Week In Blunders – Dec. 8-14
“I love my Fed-Ex guy cause he's a drug dealer and he don't even know it ... and he's always on time.” – Mitch Hedberg
Consulting giant McKinsey & Co. struck a deferred prosecution deal and agreed to pay $650 million for its role in the opioid crisis with Purdue Pharma, according to a Friday court filing.
Former McKinsey partner, Martin Elling, apparently took a hit for the team, agreeing to plead guilty to obstruction of justice for concealing and destroying evidence.
As for the firm, McKinsey said it regrets its work advising Purdue on ways to boost sales of its opioid painkiller, OxyContin.
“We should have appreciated the harm opioids were causing in our society and we should not have undertaken sales and marketing work for Purdue Pharma,” McKinsey said in a statement. “This terrible public health crisis and our past work for opioid manufacturers will always be a source of profound regret.”
This is not the first time McKinsey has had to repair its reputation.
From 2009-2011, two of its top executives, Rajat Gupta and Anil Kumar, were arrested on insider trading charges. Kumar plead guilty and Gupta was eventually found guilty in deals with Raj Rajaratnam, who had left McKinsey to launch hedg fund, Galleon Group. He was also found guilty.
More than 80,000 people die from drug overdoses each year, but since the crackdown on Purdue and its overprescribed painkillers, most overdose deaths have been attributed to fentanyl, the Associated Press reports.
Drug lords usually don’t get deferred prosecution agreements. Clearly, they need corporate structures, better lawyers and an experienced consulting team behind them.
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