Even as the Sackler family tried to reach a settlement on the roughly 2,000 lawsuits that its company, Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, faced last year over its role in the opioid crisis, it appeared to remain very rich. But it may have been forced into some other changes, mostly social ones. Page Six reported that David and Joss moved from New York to Florida, and Joss’s last fashion show was attended by influencers who didn’t know what it was or what the Sackler name is most commonly associated with. (It also followed a reported failed attempt to get Courtney Love to the show.) Elsewhere, Tufts University removed the family name from various campus facilities, after cultural institutions from the Tate to the Met announced they’d no longer take Sackler money.
On Thursday, Page Six reported that now, Mortimer and Jacqueline have traded New York for, well, Gstaad, showing that even when legal and financial situations change, tastes don’t. The couple had just sold their East 75th Street townhouse for $38 million earlier in the month, and the tabloid got a hold of Mortimer’s email announcement to New York friends, the casual tenor of which makes you wonder how regular these sorts of announcements are in his circle:
“Jackie, Oscar (our 5 year old) and I are spending the winter term in Gstaad. We will also take the opportunity of being based here to travel in Europe. We would love to see you either in Gstaad, if you are here or nearby, or elsewhere in Europe (taking advantage of the ease of travel here vs ours in NYC).”
A rep for Mortimer told Page Six that it’s just the winter (term) they’re spending away, “at a home that has been in their family for generations,” and that they’ll be back in the U.S. in the “near future.” So, off to Gstaad, but for just a little bit.
It’s unclear where in the States they’ll return to. If you can manage to ignore the enormous wealth and effective freedom from legal consequence, it hasn’t been a great time to be a Sackler in New York. It seems no matter how flush the family remains, there’s no amount of money that buys back full acceptance in the city.
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