Being a Sackler is not what it used to be.
Prior to 2019, when a slew of lawsuits maintaining that the billionaire clan had profited from the opioid crisis that the family’s Purdue Pharma allegedly helped create, the Sacklers were everywhere: Socializing at galas, swanning around the Hamptons, dropping big bucks on a wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Now they are trying to tiptoe back into high-society despite years of being kryptonite thanks to Purdue Pharma being sued for billions for systematic over-prescription of OxyContin pills.
One of the Sacklers was seen at two Hamptons fundraisers this weekend.
“Somebody whispered to me, ‘Oh, there’s a Sackler here,’” an attendee at one of the events told The Post. “I asked, ‘Where and which one?’ But I never got an immediate answer.”
It’s no wonder. “The main message is that the Sacklers are persona non grata in society; it’s to the point that nobody wants to see them or be photographed with them, much less identify them,” the attendee continued.
“They are associated with negative publicity. Talking about them in public is a negative and people being associated with them is a negative thing.”
That negative publicity stepped up this month with the new, fictionalized Netflix film “Painless,” starring Matthew Broderick as Richard Sackler.
And a blow was dealt by a Supreme Court ruling temporarily blocking Purdue Pharma’s bankruptcy deal, which shields Purdue Pharma from future opioid claims.
“The court case and Netflix film have brought up negative feelings all over again,” said the attendee. “Being in the news has not been good for them socially.”
That included in South Florida, where Richard Sackler and other family members have retreated.
In Palm Beach and nearby Boca Raton, where Richard purchased a four-bedroom, seven-bathroom $1.71 million home on a golf course, the Sacklers have made steps to regain their social footing.
Richard Sackler, a 78-year-old divorcee, bought the home earlier this year through an LLC that was not obviously tied to him — but he did not keep himself on the down-low once moving in.
“He wanted to be announced as a new member of the club,” a former resident there told The Post. “He was not, like, ‘Don’t announce me. Keep me private.’ He got introduced at a membership event.
“He was there with a much younger Asian woman.”
Upon seeing him and recognizing his family name, the former resident said, “I was surprised [that he’d be living at the country club]. I’m from a state where drug use is rampant.”
The reaction to him was divided.
A south Florida society source told The Post: “Even with the crazy money floating around Palm Beach, a lot of people have been touched by the OxyContin and opioid crisis.
“They’re pretty much pariahs in New York. And I think the New Yorkers here, of whom there are many, view them as pariahs as well.”
Considering local mores, added the society source, that’s saying something. “Palm Beachers do a lot of forgiving. It’s one of the reasons why people come there from New York – they are trying to get away from something.
“But the Oxycontin crisis is like cancer or heart disease. Everyone knows someone who has been affected, including Rush Limbaugh.”
The conservative talk radio personality lived in Palm Beach and was addicted to OxyContin in the early 2000s. He died in 2021.
“A lot of people here feel that the Sacklers stepped over the line.”
That sentiment appears to be hampering a comeback. “I have not seen them at a single event,” the socialite said.
According to the former country club resident, others were less taken aback: “Most people didn’t know who he was and they didn’t care. I only know one who was not happy about him being there.”
Whatever the case, from outside of Sackler’s home, you would not know that it was the residence of a pharma billionaire.
“I thought he would be flashier,” said the former resident. “He didn’t participate in tennis or golf or other activities and had a sh–ty Lexus out front.”
That said, multiple sources told The Post that the low profile does not necessarily mean that Richard and other family members are living solitary lives. “Some people don’t socialize publicly,” said the Palm Beach society source. “They go to their friends’ homes.”
And, as put by the attendee who heard about a Sackler circulating in the Hamptons, “Some people may believe that they had nothing to do with pushing drugs on people, that it was all done on a corporate level. People may see them quietly because, well, money is money.”
