The Sacklers drew $11 billion out of Purdue Pharma, museums removed their name, and the Supreme Court voided their release in 2024

Purdue Pharma, owned and controlled by the Sackler family, began selling OxyContin in the mid-1990s and earned about $34 billion from 1996 to 2019, mostly from the drug. In 2007 an affiliate pleaded guilty to misbranding it. The Supreme Court recorded that the family then began what one member called a "milking" program: before 2007 distributions were under 15% of revenue; afterwards up to 70%. From 2008 to 2016 the Sacklers took about $11 billion, draining 75% of Purdue's assets, much of it to overseas trusts and family companies. Purdue filed for bankruptcy in 2019. The family offered $4.325 billion, later raised by $1.175 to $1.675 billion, in return for releases from all opioid claims. On 27 June 2024, in Harrington v. Purdue Pharma, the Court ruled 5 to 4 that bankruptcy law does not allow such releases without the claimants' consent. Museums had already acted: the Tate and the National Portrait Gallery refused Sackler money in March 2019, the Louvre removed the name in July 2019, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in December 2021^†. A new plan of about $7.4 billion was confirmed in November 2025^†.