ISLAMABAD: A US federal judge on Tuesday criminally sentenced OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma over its role in the opioid crisis, ahead of upcoming bankruptcy proceedings and its dissolution. Last year, several US states reached a settlement with Purdue and the Sackler family, which had owned the company for decades, with a bankruptcy plan that will see funds routed to affected communities and individuals. The total amount to be paid in fines, forfeitures and penalties surpasses $8 billion. Purdue and other opioid makers and distributors were accused of encouraging free-wheeling prescription of their products through aggressive marketing tactics while hiding how addictive the drugs are. The company is set to be dissolved on May 1, with the remnants becoming Knoa Pharma, a public benefit company that will provide opioid use disorder treatments and overdose reversal medicines. For more than six hours on Tuesday, US Judge Madeline Cox Arleo listened to dozens of victims and their families testify about the impact Purdue Pharma and the opioid epidemic had on them. She then ordered Steve Miller, Purdue Pharma&#39;s board chair, to apologize to them. During the proceedings to resolve a Department of Justice probe and clear the way for bankruptcy, Arleo read the names of more than 200 victims who had submitted written statements before the hearing. &quot;These people are not statistics in an epidemiological study,&quot; she said, adding that the testimonies were &quot;heartbreaking.&quot; The judge also apologized on behalf of the US government, saying it had &quot;failed&quot; to protect the public from Purdue Pharma, whose practices were &quot;driven by greed&quot; and had a &quot;corporate strategy much like a criminal enterprise.&quot; While many testifying on Tuesday urged the settlement agreement to be rejected -- in part because it protects the Sackler family from criminal prosecution -- Arleo called it the &quot;best route I see among the options before me.&quot; She urged the lawyers handling the bankruptcy proceedings to honor their promises of compensation. For many people, opioid addiction begins with prescribed pain pills, such as OxyContin, before they increase their consumption and eventually turn to illicit drugs such as heroin and fentanyl, an extremely powerful synthetic opioid. From 1999 through 2023, around 806,000 people died from opioid overdoses in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Purdue Pharma was criminally sentenced over its opioid crisis role, with penalties exceeding $8 billion, before dissolution into Knoa Pharma, as victims condemned the settlement protecting the Sacklers.

Purdue Pharma sentenced ahead of bankruptcy

TEHRAN: Iran declared one of the country&#39;s largest private banks bankrupt with its assets absorbed by the state, official media reported Saturday, in a rare move in the country grappling with international sanctions. Founded in 2012, Ayandeh Bank had a network of 270 branches across the country, including 150 in the capital Tehran alone. But it had more recently been crippled by debt, with accumulated losses amounting to the equivalent of about $5.2 billion and roughly $2.9 billion in debts, according to the ISNA news agency. On Saturday, queues of customers could be seen outside a former Ayandeh Bank branch in Tehran, with police also present, an AFP journalist reported. The state-owned Melli Bank has absorbed the assets of the now-defunct Ayandeh Bank, following a decision by the Central Bank, which has given assurances that depositors will be able to recover their savings. &quot;The transfer from Ayandeh Bank to Melli Bank is now complete,&quot; said Melli Bank director Abolfazl Najarzadeh on state television on Saturday. On Thursday, Iranian Economy Minister Ali Madanizadeh said Ayandeh Bank customers had &quot;nothing to worry about&quot;. An official at the Central Bank of Iran, Hamidreza Ghaniabadi, said &quot;bad debts&quot; had prompted the bankruptcy. He told Iran&#39;s IRNA news agency that &quot;more than 90 percent of Ayandeh Bank&#39;s funds were allocated either to parties related to the bank or to projects managed by the bank itself,&quot; which were never repaid. Ayandeh Bank had been behind lavish projects such as the immense Iran Mall shopping complex in Tehran, which includes an ice rink and cinemas. In addition to Ayandeh, five other banks -- Sarmayeh, Day, Sepah, Iran Zamin and Melal -- are also facing difficulty, according to Iran&#39;s Tasnim news agency. The United Nations reimposed tough sanctions on Iran in September after months of tense diplomacy aimed at reviving nuclear talks derailed since June, when Israeli and US forces bombed Iranian nuclear facilities. The sanctions are a &quot;snapback&quot; of measures frozen in 2015 when Iran agreed to major restrictions on its nuclear program&nbsp;under a deal that President Donald Trump withdrew from in 2018 during his first term.

Banking

The bank had recently been crippled by debt, with accumulated losses amounting to the equivalent of about $5.2 billion and roughly $2.9 billion in debts.

Articles tagged with "Bankruptcy"

Purdue Pharma sentenced ahead of bankruptcy

Iran declares major lender bankrupt