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Ex-McKinsey partner sues firm, claims he was made opioids 'scapegoat'
- A former McKinsey & Co partner sued the global consulting firm on Friday and accused it of defaming him and making him a "scapegoat" to distract attention from its work advising OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma and other manufacturers of opioid pain medications.
Arnab Ghatak, who was fired in 2021, filed the lawsuit in New York state court just two days after Reuters and others reported that the U.S. Department of Justice was conducting a criminal investigation of McKinsey's role in the U.S. opioid epidemic. Part of that investigation concerns whether McKinsey obstructed justice, an inquiry related to McKinsey's disclosure that it had fired two partners who communicated about deleting documents related to their opioids work, people familiar with the matter said. Those partners included Ghatak, who had been a senior partner and McKinsey's global head of medical affairs. In his lawsuit, Ghatak alleged that McKinsey and its global managing partner, Bob Sternfels, lied to the U.S. Congress and the public about his role deleting emails. Ghatak accused Sternfels of misleading Congress when he testified before a House of Representatives committee in 2022 that the two partners were terminated for violating a document retention policy, one that Ghatak said in fact did not exist. He said McKinsey knew no evidence existed of him improperly deleting emails, yet had promoted the narrative "to create a scapegoat as a diversion from their own decades long work in non abuse deterrent opioids." The lawsuit seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages from McKinsey and Sternfels, who was also named as a defendant."We terminated him for serious violations of our professional standards," the McKinsey spokesperson said. "We fully stand by our decision to terminate Dr. Ghatak and by our public statements on the matter."McKinsey previously agreed to pay nearly $1 billion to settle widespread opioid lawsuits and other related legal actions by states, local governments, school districts, Native American tribes and health insurers accusing it of contributing to a deadly U.S. opioid addiction epidemic. McKinsey in 2019 said it would no longer advise clients on any opioid-related businesses. McKinsey did not admit to wrongdoing in those civil settlements. Purdue pleaded guilty in 2020 to charges over its handling of opioids. A multi-billion-dollar settlement it reached in bankruptcy court resolving lawsuits alleging it fueled the epidemic is on hold while the U.S. Supreme Court considers a challenge by the Biden administration to the deal.Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks. Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes.and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website. It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
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