Opioid addiction deals: Pharma family buys its way out of accountability 

A US bankruptcy court gave Purdue Pharma's owners immunity from further civil suits. They don’t have to admit wrongdoing — and they may end up richer than they started

Lynn Wencus holds a sign with a picture of her son Jeff and wears a sign of others' loved ones lost to OxyContin and other opioids during a protest at Purdue Pharma LLP headquarters in Stamford, Conn, in 2018. Picture: AP Photo/Jessica Hill

Corporate money has a powerful and malign influence on so many aspects of American life.

But even by that low standard, events this past week in a New York bankruptcy court are shocking.