Consulting firm McKinsey & Company has agreed to pay $650 million to settle a federal investigation into its work for opioid maker Purdue Pharma, according to court documents filed Friday in Virginia.
McKinsey has also entered into a deferred prosecution agreement to resolve criminal charges, including that it conspired with Purdue Pharma to help misbrand prescription drugs.
A former McKinsey senior partner has also agreed to plead guilty to obstruction of justice, according to court documents.
McKinsey representatives did not immediately respond to phone and email messages Friday.
McKinsey has agreed to pay state and local governments about $765 million in settlements through 2021 for its role in advising companies on how to sell more powerful prescription painkillers amid a national opioid crisis.
The consulting firm also agreed last year to pay health funds and insurance companies $78 million.
The United States has been in an addiction and overdose crisis for decades, linked to more than 80,000 deaths in recent years. Over the past decade, the majority of deaths have been attributed to illicit fentanyl, which is incorporated into many illegal drugs. Early in the epidemic, prescription pills were the leading cause of death.
Some advocates say the crisis began when Purdue Pharma’s OxyContin hit the market in 1996.
Three Purdue executives pleaded guilty to defamation charges in 2007, and the company agreed to pay a fine. The company pleaded guilty to criminal charges in 2020 and agreed to $8.3 billion in penalties and forfeitures, most of which will be waived as long as it executes a settlement through bankruptcy court that is still pending.
McKinsey documents made public over the years describe Purdue using the consultancy to help “turbocharge” opioid sales in 2013 as pushback against the opioid crisis meant the company’s drugs were being prescribed less .
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Mulvihill reported from Philadelphia.