Sacklers vs. States: Settlement Talks Stumble Over Foreign Business

The Sackler family is willing to give up Purdue Pharma to settle all claims related to the opioid crisis, but is resisting a quick sale of its overseas drug company.

Purdue Pharma’s negotiations to settle thousands of lawsuits over the company’s role in the opioids crisis have turned into a standoff between members of the Sackler family, who own the company, and a group of state attorneys general over how much the family should pay and whether it can continue selling drugs abroad.

The Sacklers are deep in negotiations that, if finalized, would force them to give up ownership of Purdue, the company widely blamed for the onset of the opioid epidemic with its aggressive marketing of the prescription painkiller OxyContin. But they want to keep selling OxyContin and other drugs abroad for as many as seven more years, through another company they own, Mundipharma, based in Cambridge, England. read more »

Juniper Networks forks out $11.7M to settle foreign bribery charges

Juniper Networks paid the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) $11.7 million to settle foreign bribery charges related to its sales practices in China and Russia.

From 2008 to 2013, Juniper sales employees of its Russian subsidiary secretly agreed with third-party partners to increase discounts on sales that weren't passed on to customers. Instead, the off-the-book fund, which was referred to as "common funds," was used to pay for customer trips, including some for government officials, according to the SEC.

The common funds, which were partially directed by the subsidiary sales reps, were used to travel to locations where Juniper didn't have any facilities or industry conferences related to its business, the SEC said. read more »