A consulting firm with ties to communist China is set to pay Nevada $45 million after it spread propaganda that contributed to the state’s opioid crisis.
The state’s Democrat Attorney General Aaron Ford announced the settlement with McKinsey & Company on Monday, just one month he “opted out” of another settlement worth $573 million with 47 states and Washington D.C. over the opioid propaganda which would have left Nevada with a “woefully insufficient” $7 million.
“Nevada is a hardest-hit state by the opioid crisis and is owed a great deal of compensation and justice,” Ford said in a press release, noting that opioids “have killed thousands in Nevada, and they continue to ravage the lives of many more, creating one of the largest public-health epidemics in the country’s history.”
Nevada opted out of the multistate settlement with McKinsey & Company last month.
Today, the @NevadaAG Office announced that we’ve settled separately with McKinsey for $45 million.
As a candidate, I promised that I’d always look out for Nevada’s families first. I meant it. https://t.co/WEHJCwX2gX
— Aaron D. Ford (@AaronDFordNV) March 22, 2021
McKinsey first came under scrutiny after its client, prescription drugmaker Purdue Pharma LP, filed for bankruptcy in 2019 using documents that showed the consulting firm recommended offering rebates to doctors and distributors whose patients overdosed on the addictive pills they sold. The consulting firm also advised Purdue to “turbocharge” Oxycontin sales by issuing more prescription doses, some with higher levels of potency, a 15-year campaign which Ford’s office said heavily contributed to the high numbers of opioid prescriptions in the state which far “exceeded the national average.”
While Purdue was ordered to pay $8.3 billion in November for its role in “defrauding the federal government and violating of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act,” McKinsey’s promotion of opioids, even as overdose numbers rose, will result in “two installments of $23 million in 45 days and $22 million in 120 days” to Nevada.
McKinsey previously refused to directly address Republican Sen. Marco Rubio’s questions about its role in the opioid crisis and if it discussed America’s epidemic with communist China.
“Has McKinsey & Company ever: a. Discussed America’s opioid epidemic with a client in China or member of the CPP?” Rubio asked. “If so, please detail the nature of those conversations, including whether they were part of a contract. b. Discussed China’s importation of fentanyl into the United States with a client in China or member of the CCP?”
Source: The Federalist
