On July 19, 2021, DOJ filed a statement expressing its “fundamental concerns” with the nonconsensual non-debtor releases proposed in Purdue’s plan of reorganization, noting that these legal releases violate due process and are not permitted under the Bankruptcy Code.
On July 28, 2021, Chairwoman Maloney joined Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Dick Durbin, Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, and Rep. Jerrold Nadler, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, in announcing the Nondebtor Release Prohibition Act of 2021, which expands on the SACKLER Act to prevent individuals who have not filed for bankruptcy from obtaining releases from lawsuits brought by private parties, states, Tribes, municipalities, or the U.S. government in bankruptcy.
On August 6, 2021, Chairwoman Maloney and Rep. DeSaulnier joined Sens. Warren and Blumenthal in sending a letter to Attorney General Garland urging DOJ to immediately appeal Purdue Pharma’s bankruptcy on the grounds that it would deny victims and state attorneys general the opportunity to litigate their cases against the Sacklers.
On September 16, 2021, following the bicameral letter, the U.S. Trustee, a component of DOJ responsible for overseeing the administration of bankruptcy cases, announced that it was appealing the confirmation of Purdue’s bankruptcy plan.
On December 6, 2021, Chairwoman Maloney and Rep. DeSaulnier issued statements applauding the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York for rejecting Purdue Pharma’s plan of reorganization, which would have granted sweeping immunity to members of the Sackler family for their role in flooding American communities with OxyContin and fueling the nation’s opioid epidemic.
Original source can be found here.
