McKinsey & Company, the global management consulting giant, has entered into a deal to pay a $573 million penalty as a settlement with 47 US states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories over its role in the opioid crisis in the US. The settlement traces back to legal cases brought against the company concerning its work primarily with Purdue Pharma, the pharmaceutical company known to be at the forefront of the opioid crisis.

McKinsey will pay a $573 million settlement that’ll be split between the 47 US states, five territories, and the District of Columbia, money that’ll then be funneled to government programs tackling opioid addiction and providing treatment. The settlement mirrors that of Purdue Pharma, which is the main company fingered for its role in the US opioid epidemic and agreed to an $8.3 billion settlement last year.

McKinsey is being penalized for its consulting work wherein it advised Purdue Pharma on how to maximize profits from opioid sales with dodgy tactics including targeting high-volume opioid prescribers; crafting messaging to get physicians to prescribe more of its flagship opioids, OxyContin, to patients; and advising Purdue on how to circumvent pharmacy restrictions in order to deliver high-dose opioid prescriptions.

From the complaint levied against McKinsey, the company’s partners are alleged to have begun emailing themselves about deleting documents and emails related to their work for Purdue once they became aware of an investigation into McKinsey’s consulting work with opioid companies, seemingly incriminating the company in the process.

The case against McKinsey was brought by an executive committee made up of dozens of American state attorneys general. Monetary-wise, the $573 million settlement represents a significant percentage (nearly 6%) of McKinsey’s $10 billion+ in annual revenue. 

The full complaint against McKinsey is embedded below.

McKinsey Complaint on Scribd

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