0:00 In 1996, there were six hundred seventy thousand prescriptions for a new painkiller called OxyContin.0:07 Five years later, that number was over SIX million.0:10 It’s a pattern of explosive growth built on a hidden truth.0:15 Last week, you heard how a secret backdoor in FTX's code allowed an empire to be built on customer funds.0:22 This week, we're looking at a company built on a secret that was hidden in plain sight, printed right on the bottle.0:30 The company was Purdue Pharma.0:32 The owners were the Sackler family.0:35 And the product would make them billions, while creating a crisis that is still being paid for today.0:42 The story starts with a simple, powerful sales pitch.0:46 A pitch that was a lie.0:48 Here’s how you build an empire on pain.0:50 First, you identify a market.0:52 In the nineties, that market was millions of Americans with chronic, non-cancer pain.0:58 Second, you create a product.1:00 Purdue took an existing opioid, oxycodone, and wrapped it in a time-release coating, calling it OxyContin.1:08 The genius, they claimed, was that the coating made it safer, less addictive.1:14 Third, and this is the key, you sell the idea.1:17 And Purdue sold it relentlessly.1:19 In 2001 alone, they spent two hundred million dollars on marketing.1:24 They sponsored over forty national “pain management symposia” in attractive destinations.1:30 They used data to find the highest-prescribing doctors and targeted them.1:35 Sales representatives were trained to deliver one, critical message: the risk of addiction from OxyContin was, quote, “less than one percent.” That number came from a single, flawed paragraph in a 1980s medical journal that never studied long-term use.1:53 But it was the number they needed.1:56 It was the permission doctors needed to hear.1:59 And it worked.2:00 Prescriptions soared.2:01 The money poured in.2:03 So who benefits?2:04 The Sackler family.2:05 They personally drove the sales strategy, with court documents showing they accompanied sales reps on visits to doctors.2:14 They stood to gain everything.2:16 And by 2019, they had amassed a personal fortune of about fourteen billion dollars.2:22 The lie wasn’t just a marketing slogan.2:25 It was the foundation of a dynasty.2:27 The company knew.2:28 Internal documents show Purdue was aware that crushing the pills defeated the time-release mechanism, a method of abuse.2:37 Executives later testified to Congress they were unaware of widespread abuse until the year 2000.2:44 But the evidence showed that was just another part of the story they were selling.2:50 The most telling detail is what the Sacklers did when the truth started to come out.2:56 As over a thousand lawsuits piled up from states and cities, the family began what one member called a “milking program.” They systematically pulled approximately eleven billion dollars out of Purdue Pharma over a decade.3:11 They were protecting their personal wealth, moving it beyond the reach of the courts and their victims.3:19 It wasn't just about the money they had made.3:22 It was about the money they were determined to KEEP.3:26 This is a report on a historical case, not medical advice.3:30 Always consult a healthcare professional for any medical concerns.3:35 The end for Purdue Pharma came in 2019, when it filed for bankruptcy.3:39 This year, a seven point four billion dollar settlement finally became effective.3:45 The money will be paid out over fifteen years, funding addiction treatment and prevention programs across the country.3:54 The Sackler family is permanently barred from selling opioids in the United States.4:00 The money from the settlement will now flow to the communities that were broken.4:05 But the case sets a new precedent.4:08 It proves that for corporate crimes of this scale, accountability isn't just a fine paid by a bankrupt company.4:16 It's a permanent mark on the family name that built the empire.4:20 And that, you can't move offshore.
