Artwork by Michael DiMilo
By Geoff Carter
It’s happening again. The rich, the elites, the privileged, the American royalty, are once again proving that they are more than equal to the rest of us. Welcome to the rarified stratosphere of the one percent. Welcome to lifestyles of the rich and infamous.
On the heels of the concluding episode of the HBO series sensation Succession, the epic story of the obscenely wealthy Roy family’s epic struggle to maintain their malevolent stranglehold over the American media market, last week’s news cycle highlighted the similarities between the Roy family and their alleged real-life counterparts, the Murdochs. It seems that the Roys’ fictional news station ATN bears a remarkable resemblance to Fox News and that Rupert Murdoch’s behavior and history seem to bear an uncanny resemblance to fictional patriarch Logan Roy. Apparently, the American viewing public loves this stuff.
Now, this week, there is a new real-life rich dynasty coming into the public spotlight. Say hello to the Sackler family, elite inhabitants of the upper stratosphere of the one percent.
Just recently, the Sacklers reached a six-billion-dollar settlement with eight states and the District of Columbia for their operation of Purdue Pharm, the company responsible for creating and actively marketing the deadly OxyContin painkiller, an opioid which resulted into a nationwide crisis of epidemic proportions. According to the (CDC), over 564,000 people died from opioid overdoses between 1990 and 2020—that’s over half a million people. Purdue Pharm was found legally responsible for presenting a fraudulent description of the drug’s addictive qualities, and Purdue at that time was run by Richard Sackler.
According to Senator Joe Manchin’s website, “as owners and operators of Purdue Pharma, the Sackler family exacerbated the opioid epidemic’s staggering human and economic toll on hundreds of thousands of Americans. When faced with declining sales in the 2000s, the Sacklers employed aggressive marketing tactics to “turbocharge” OxyContin sales, eventually resulting in Purdue pleading guilty to federal criminal charges in 2007 for misleading doctors and regulators.” Apparently, this rich and infamous family continued these aggressive marketing strategies even after Purdue initially pled guilty. That’s why they’re rich and infamous.
Like the fictitious Roy family, the Sackler family is attempting to weather this crisis to their fiscal empire—and their reputation—by paying off, well, everybody. The six billion dollars will go to eight states to help combat the ongoing opioid crisis and Purdue Pharm, the company which produced the drug, will go bankrupt. However, the settlement provides immunity for the Sacklers from any “current and future lawsuits over their role in their Purdue Pharma’s opioid business.” (CNN). So, it seems that the family will not be held financially liable for any one of the half million deaths caused by their product, even though they reaped over ten billion dollars in profits. (NPR).
While the family did contribute two hundred and twenty-five million dollars of their own money in a separate settlement, simple math might tell you they’ve come out ahead. Even though Purdue Pharm has admitted criminal liability in two separate plea agreements, the Sackler family has only this to say: “While the families have acted lawfully in all respects, they sincerely regret that OxyContin, a prescription medicine that continues to help people suffering from chronic pain, unexpectedly became part of an opioid crisis that has brought grief and loss to far too many families and communities” (NPR). Right.
So, basically, (at least at this point) the Sacklers are off the hook. The settlements will strip them of about half their fortune, but I suppose they’ll probably get by on the few billion they have left. Technically, they could still be prosecuted by the government. Technically. Last year, Senator Joe Manchin and seven of his colleagues called for a DOJ investigation of the family, but the truth is that any litigation against them would likely drag out for years and cost a series of small fortunes. It seems unlikely to happen.
There is a public backlash, however. Dozens of universities, museums, and other beneficiaries of Sackler donations have stripped the family name from their institutions. Ouch. I guess that must hurt.
According to the United States Sentencing Commission, the average jail sentence for a drug trafficker is seventy-seven months, a little over six years. A little over ninety-six percent of drug offenders were sentenced to prison (USSC), but the Sacklers probably will never be held liable in a court of law. Insulated as they must be by troops of lawyers, publicists, marketers, and advisors, they have probably never even lost a night’s sleep over going to jail.
This is only the latest example of lifestyles of the rich and infamous. Let’s take a look at some of our old favorites. Let’s go to Mar-a-Lago.
Ex-president Donald Trump has had a plethora of legal troubles, including charges of sexual assault, illicitly using campaign funds for hush money, purloining top secret documents, trying to coerce an election official, and allegedly fomenting rebellion on January 6th at the Capitol Building.
Like the fictitious Roys and the true-to-life Sacklers, Trump is rich and powerful (though perhaps not quite as rich as he says he is) and has so far seemed relatively immune to the law. He is Teflon Don. At least until recently. The civil suit brought against him for sexual abuse and libel by E. Jean Carroll resulted in multi-million-dollar settlement for her, but that’s only a drop in the bucket for one of the most infamous of the rich and infamous.
Now, as Mr. Trump is facing possible indictments of the other charges leveled against hm, the average American is forced to wonder whether this man, who allegedly incited insurrection against his own government and illegally kept top-secret documents somewhere in his house will be held accountable to the same levels of justice as they, mere mortal Americans, would be. Others have already been punished for their roles in the insurrection. Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes was sentenced to eighteen years for his role in the insurrection. Will Mr. Trump be facing jail time, too? You, fans of the rich and infamous, tell me.
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted of espionage against the U.S. in 1951 and executed for their crimes in 1953. Mr. Trump is being investigated for hoarding top secret documents after leaving the White House. A tape recording of a meeting between the former president and some associates during which he discussed such a document about the country of Iran has recently come to light. Is this simply a foolish indiscretion?
Who cares? This is simply another example of the double standard that is the trademark “lifestyles of the rich and infamous”. The rich and infamous might get caught, but they never pay; they might do the crime, but they’ll never do the time; they might tell you everyone is the same, that they’re one of us, but don’t you believe it. Deep down—maybe not so deep down—they believe they’re better than you, and that’ll you’ll never—no matter what great things you may do—be one of them. They would simply never allow it.
So, this concludes this evening’s episode of the latest news of lifestyles of the rich and infamous. Good night and good luck.