Judge says Purdue Pharma workers should get bonuses, but maybe not the CEO

FILE - This June 17, 2019, file photo shows 5-mg pills of Oxycodone. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, File) FILE - This June 17, 2019, file photo shows 5-mg pills of Oxycodone. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, File)

By GEOFF MULVIHILL / Associated Press December 4, 2019 4 min read

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) – The judge overseeing the bankruptcy case of OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma will consider Wednesday whether the company’s CEO should get a bonus equal to half his $2.6 million salary.

Attorneys general representing about half the states say the company’s chief executive Craig Landau shouldn’t get a bonus, arguing in court filings that he bears some responsibility for the national opioid epidemic that they say the company’s signature painkiller helped fuel.

“Purdue should not award bonus payments to Landau before resolving the allegations that Landau committed deadly, illegal misconduct,” the states said in a filing this week.

A hearing is scheduled Wednesday afternoon in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, New York, where the company has sought protection from creditors as it tries to settle 2,700 lawsuits it faces over the toll of opioids.