Indian American executive claims he was made opioids ‘scapegoat’

Arnab Ghatak, a former McKinsey & Co partner has sued the global consulting firm, claiming it defamed him and made him a “scapegoat” to distract attention from its work advising manufacturers of opioid pain medications, according to media reports.

The Indian American executive, who was fired in 2021, filed the suit in New York state court on April 26 — just two days after it was revealed that McKinsey’s role in the US opioid epidemic was being probed by the US Justice Department, New York Post reported.

Part of the DOJ probe concerns whether McKinsey obstructed justice — an inquiry related to McKinsey’s disclosure that it had fired two partners who communicated about deleting documents related to their opioids work, the newspaper said citing people familiar with the matter.

One of those partners was Ghatak, who had been a senior partner and McKinsey’s global head of medical affairs.

Ghatak also alleged that McKinsey and its global managing partner, Bob Sternfels, lied to Congress and the public about his role improperly deleting emails.

Ghatak said in his lawsuit that when Sternfels testified before a House of Representatives committee in 2022, both partners were terminated for violating a document retention policy that Ghatak insists does not even exist.

Rather, Ghatak claims he became of victim of McKinsey’s effort “to create a scapegoat as a diversion from their own decades long work in non abuse deterrent opioids.”

The lawsuit seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages from McKinsey and Sternfels, who was also named as a defendant.

A spokesperson for McKinsey called the complaint “entirely meritless,” according to the Post.

“We terminated him for serious violations of our professional standards,” the McKinsey spokesperson was quoted as saying. “We fully stand by our decision to terminate Dr. Ghatak and by our public statements on the matter.”

McKinsey has already agreed to pay nearly $1 billion to settle widespread opioid lawsuits and other related legal actions by states, local governments, school districts, Native American tribes and health insurers accusing it of contributing to a deadly US opioid addiction epidemic, according to the Post.