In 5-10 years we get a longform glossy magazine profile of one of the younger Sacklers. The headline will end with a question mark. It will talk about how the

In 5-10 years we get a longform glossy magazine profile of one of the younger Sacklers. The headline will end with a question mark. It will talk about how the heir has become an active philanthropist, dedicating his/her life to “making things right”. It will list their accomplishments since the family was exposed. It will end with an open ended question about “the sins of our fathers.” It will really make you think. They will spend their life slowly giving away half their fortune, one gala at a time. They will start a foundation. It will have a name not too dissimilar from a pharmaceutical brand name—meaningless but vaguely positive (too bad Altria is taken). They will max out that foundation’s board with Big Names in that world—just so long as their name isn’t Sackler. Their investment of half of the payout they kept will grow larger than the original started at, and they’ll never pay more than a nominal dime in taxes thanks to those sweet 501(c)3 write-offs. Their reputation will be laundered, at least enough for their checkbooks invited back to the parties. And their kids? Home free. In a few generation the hundreds of thousands of deaths on their hands will be forgotten, except by the families of the victims that were just the cost of doing business for them.