It has long been known that the Sacklers use Bermuda as a base for Mundipharma, a network of companies set up to do business outside North America. But their island portfolio also includes family foundations, real estate holding companies and an insurer, according to documents leaked in 2017 to the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung. The documents are part of millions known as the Paradise Papers that were shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists which provided access to the AP.
The Sacklers use of offshore holding companies and trusts is telling, said Jeffrey Winters, a Northwestern University professor whose research focuses on how the powerful protect their fortunes. One would not put those trusts there if you didnt see some wealth defense benefit, Winters said. Its very hard to see whats in there and its very hard to seize whats in there. Thats the purpose.
But David S. Neufeld, an international tax lawyer who works with wealthy clients and closely held companies, said the layered, partly offshore structure used to control Purdue, while not typical, is also not that uncommon. Somewhere in this picture is a desire to limit exposure to business liabilities. Thats not, in and of itself, a problem. Thats the very nature of setting up a corporation, Neufeld said.
The Sacklers had an estimated net worth of $13 billion as of 2016, making them Americas 19th-richest family, according to Forbes magazine. One of their largest holdings outside pharmaceuticals appears to be an estimated $1.7 billion portfolio in a family company, Cap 1 LLC, that recently sold a stake in 17 U.S. ski resorts.
How many have died in the last 20 years from opioids? These people are murderers.