Why is Howard Udell paying $8 million for a federal misdemeanor? Neither prosecutors nor Udell, the general counsel of Purdue Pharma L.P., will say exactly what he did wrong. But the size of the penalty has drawn attention.
On May 10 Udell and two other officers at Purdue Pharma pleaded guilty to misbranding OxyContin, the company’s controversial painkiller, from 1995 to 2001. Each of the executives was forced to disgorge a substantial portion of their compensation. In addition to Udell’s payment, Purdue Pharma’s president will shell out $19 million, and its chief medical officer will hand over $7.5 million. The defendants can count themselves lucky in one respect, however — they escaped jail time. The misbranding misdemeanor can be punished by up to one year in prison.
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