Ex-McKinsey partner to serve 6 months in jail for destroying records on work to turbocharge OxyContin sales
A former senior partner at McKinsey & Company was sentenced on Friday to six months in federal prison for destroying records of the firm’s work to “turbocharge” Purdue Pharma’s OxyContin sales during the opioid crisis.Martin Elling, 60, pleaded guilty in January to obstruction of justice related to criminal investigations into McKinsey’s consulting work with opioid manufacturers.McKinsey last year agreed to pay $650 million to settle those probes.“Today’s sentencing sends a resounding message: those who attempt to obstruct justice and conceal the truth – no matter how senior, sophisticated, or well-connected – will be held accountable,” Leah Foley, US Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, said in a statement.In a statement, Elling’s legal team confirmed the sentencing and said he is “extremely sorry.”“He intends to spend the remainder of his life seeking to regain the trust of those whom he disappointed with his conduct, by supporting his family and friends and giving back to the less fortunate, as he has done for the past decades,” his lawyers told The Post.Elling’s sentencing took place at a federal courthouse in Abingdon, Va., a town in Appalachia – one of the regions hit hardest by the opioid crisis, which killed more than 42,000 people across the country in 2016 alone, according to the National Library of Medicine.Purdue Pharma engaged McKinsey in 2013 to drive OxyContin revenue and “turbocharge” sales, according to court documents.Elling, who was also ordered to perform 1,000 hours of community service and pay a $40,000 fine, served as the director of the team for about 30 of McKinsey’s engagements with the pharma giant, according to the Department of Justice.In 2018, Elling emailed another senior partner with concerns that a Purdue board member was being sued by state attorneys general.“It probably makes sense to have a quick conversation with the risk committee to see if we should be doing anything other [...