Hooked, line and Sackler
OxyContin was once hailed as a miracle drug for pain relief. But in recent times, it has become synonymous with the opioid epidemic that has killed tens of thousands of people in the US. And now the family of billionaires who created it are under legal scrutiny like never before
Until very recently, the Sackler family were the US’s least-known billionaire dynasty – which was precisely how they liked it. They’re much richer than the American families you hear a lot more about: richer than the Rockefellers, the Vanderbilts, the Kardashians and most certainly the Trumps. Like the Trumps, they have magnificent homes, private planes and properties all over the world. Unlike the Trumps, they are world-class philanthropists. They have received knighthoods, damehoods ...