The charitable trust of the Sackler family, whose fortune is rooted in the controversial painkiller OxyContin, has deliberately withheld the identities of two organisations that received a combined sum exceeding £1.1 million. The trust stated this exemption was necessary to protect the recipients from potential damage to their reputations.
Grants Amidst Ongoing Controversy
According to its latest accounts, filed on 31 December 2024, The Sackler Trust distributed £3.8 million to various arts, education, and science bodies throughout the year. This comes despite the trust being widely shunned by major UK cultural institutions, including the National Gallery, Tate, and the Royal Opera House, due to the Sackler family's connection to the US opioid epidemic.
The trust's accounts explicitly justify the secrecy, stating: “The trust considers that further reporting will expose the recipients to serious prejudice and impair the furtherance of their charitable activities.” In total, 98 grants were issued in 2024, a significant increase from 69 the previous year.
Named Beneficiaries and Legal Settlements
Among the publicly named recipients were Veterans Aid and the Belvoir Cricket and Countryside Trust, each receiving £250,000. Other disclosed grants of £60,000 or more went to a range of community and support groups, such as the Peterborough Asylum and Refugee Community Association and the Mustard Tree.
This philanthropic activity continues against the backdrop of a major US legal settlement. In November, a US bankruptcy judge approved a deal requiring members of the Sackler family to contribute up to $7 billion (£5 billion) and relinquish ownership of Purdue Pharma, the company they controlled, which developed and aggressively marketed OxyContin.
A Legacy of 'Reputation Laundering' Claims
The Sackler family built a vast philanthropic network using profits from OxyContin sales. However, their reputation collapsed after investigations revealed Purdue Pharma's role in fuelling a devastating addiction crisis across America. Critics have long accused the family of using charitable giving as a form of “reputation laundering.”
The Sackler Trust is chaired by Dame Theresa Sackler, widow of Mortimer Sackler, one of the original brothers behind Purdue Pharma. She served on the Purdue board from 1993 to 2018. Her three children are also trustees of the family charity, which holds assets totalling £50 million.
While the trust announced a pause in new donations in 2019, it quietly resumed giving in 2020. At the close of 2024, it was committed to £7.4 million in grants. The trust declined to comment when approached.
