I can't tell from this whether the Sacklers are being contrite and genuinely sorry for what's happened, or they've simply decided this is the best way to preserve whatever assets they have. I'm guessing they'll still be mega-rich whatever happens.
"In January 2001, Richard Sackler received a plea for help from a Purdue sales representative. The sales rep described a community meeting at a local high school, organized by mothers whose children overdosed on OxyContin and died. “Statements were made that OxyContin sales were at the expense of dead children and the only difference between heroin and OxyContin is that you can get OxyContin from a doctor.”
The next month, a federal prosecutor reported 59 deaths from OxyContin in a single state.[...]Sackler wrote in a confidential email: “we have to hammer on the abusers in every way possible. They are the culprits and the problem. They are reckless criminals.”
https://arstechnica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Mass_AGO_...