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McKinsey’s former senior partner has been sentenced to six months in prison for deleting documents relating to the job of opioid maker Purdue Pharma’s consulting firm.
Martin Elling pleaded guilty in January to a single charge of obstructing justice, and admitted that he had erased more than 100 computer files related to Purdue’s work after prosecutors began investigating the role of drugmakers in the opioid addiction epidemic that destroys the United States.
Elling was with a team of McKinsey consultants who advised Purdue, the maker of Oxycontin, on how to “turbocharge” painkillers sales. Purdue hired McKinsey in 2013 to help revive painkillers sales, while Elling won the business and led the team that devised the strategy. This led a team with aggressive marketing to doctors who prescribe drugs freely, according to federal prosecutors.
In August 2018, after U.S. authorities reported that they were investigating the company, Elling emailed the subject line that included the item “When Home,” according to court filings: “Delete Lapdue Pur (Purdue Pharma) documents.”
Forensic analysis showed that a folder named “Purdue” disappeared with over 100 documents. Prosecutors said the removal was intended to protect evidence about his and McKinsey’s role in the US public health crisis caused by opioid addiction.
McKinsey paid about $1.6 billion to resolve a sequence of legal claims that opioid makers’ jobs contributed to the addiction crisis, including a $650 million postponed prosecutor’s agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice in December. The company says its opioid work is a source of “deep regret” and has since revamped its risk management process.
According to a spokesman for his lawyer, Elling was sentenced Thursday to 1,000 hours of community service over two years of supervised release, in addition to six months of prison.
“Martin fully accepts responsibility for his actions and he is extremely sorry,” his legal team said in a statement. “He will spend the rest of his life trying to regain the trust of those who are disappointed by his actions.”
The prosecutor said: “They were sending a message to the white-collar defendants that they didn’t go beyond the law and argued a 12-month ruling to stop others from trying to circumvent liability by destroying the evidence.
Elling’s lawyer Thomas Bondurant wrote a filing ahead of the verdict that his client “had sincerely regretted his actions, understood their seriousness, fully embraced their consequences, and had already paid a great price for his actions.”
Elling was fired in 2021 by McKinsey after disclosure of an internal email that Elling discussed deletion of the document. Bondurant said his prison term means Elling will not be able to return to Thailand, and he has been living since 2019.
Some of the company’s most senior ex-executive executives, including former managing partner Kevin Snyderter, have become heavy as character witnesses, with Elling’s lawyer calling his actions “an extraordinary extraordinary” in McKinsey’s career of 30 years.
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He led McKinsey to a global managing partner from 2018 to 2021, and is now an executive at Goldman Sachs, and is referred to as “generous, knowledgeable, well traveled and insightful” in a character reference filed with Judge Robert Barrow of the Western District Court of Virginia.
“Martin was seen as a truly valuable coach to hundreds of colleagues who benefited from his generous time, despite the number of financially rewarding ways he could spend countless hours dedicated to helping others succeed,” Sneader wrote.
Elling attracted character references in 39 written submissions prior to the hearing from Michael Silber, former Chief Financial Officer of McKinsey, and Katy George, now a former Chief Human Resources Officer at Microsoft.
