McKinsey Agrees to Pay $650 Million to Settle Inquiry Into Work With Purdue Pharma

Consulting firm McKinsey & Company has agreed to pay $650 million to resolve Department of Justice charges over advice it provided to pharmaceutical company Purdue Pharma on how to “turbocharge” sales of OxyContin, Reuters reports.

McKinsey entered into a five-year deferred prosecution agreement filed in federal court to resolve criminal charges brought as part of the latest prosecution concerning the marketing of opioids that helped fuel the crisis.

A former senior McKinsey partner, Martin Elling, also agreed to plead guilty to obstructing justice by destroying records concerning McKinsey’s work for Purdue. He is set to plead guilty on Jan. 10 and faces up to a year in prison.

The case marks the first time a management consulting firm has been held criminally responsible for advice it had given that resulted in a client committing a crime, the article notes.

McKinsey was charged with conspiring to misbrand a drug and obstruction of justice. Those charges would be dismissed if it abides by the terms of the agreement for five years. It also agreed to resolve civil claims under the False Claims Act. McKinsey previously reached agreements totaling nearly $1 billion to settle state/local opioid lawsuits.