How the Tax Haven of Bermuda Played Key Role in £10 Billion Sackler Family Fortune

The Sackler’s owned pharmaceutical companies Napp and Mundipharma may vehemently deny that avoided paying taxes in Europe and Australia by diverting profits to the tax haven of Bermuda, sources from within the business say otherwise.

The company Napp produced pharmaceuticals in Cambridge, and from there would sell the drugs either to the National Health Service in the United Kingdom or to Mundipharma entities worldwide. The source claims “worldwide” in fact meant transferring the profits of the drugs to the simple office block in Bermuda called Mundipharma House before selling them to other countries. Mundipharma House is held in trust by the two branches of the Sackler family, Mortimer Sackler and his brother Raymond Sackler. This scheme allowed for Mortimer Sackler, who is non-domiciled in the United Kingdom, to avoid paying taxes on any part of the company’s profits that were not remitted to the United Kingdom.

See David Cohen, The Sackler Files: How the Tax Haven of Bermuda Played Key Role in £10 Billion Family Fortune, Evening Standard, May 11, 2018.

Special thanks to Joel C. Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention