Hedge funds are reportedly scrambling to cut ties with the family that owns opioid-maker Purdue Pharma

• DeepCurrents Investment Group LLC and Sunriver Management LLC are unraveling financial ties with the Sackler family, The Wall Street Journal reported.
• The Sackler family owns Purdue Pharma, the OxyContin maker facing thousands of lawsuits for its alleged role in the opioid epidemic.
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A Wall Street Journal report said two hedge funds are distancing themselves from the controversial Sackler family, the owner of the opioid maker Purdue Pharma LP, which faces thousands of lawsuits for its alleged role in spurring on the opioid epidemic.

DeepCurrents Investment Group LLC and Sunriver Management LLC have returned funds to the investment firm Kokino LLC, a family office owned by the Sacklers, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Sunriver, an almost $600 million hedge fund that was among the top-performing in 2019, told investors that it had relocated from its former offices, which were owned by the Sackler family and the headquarters of Purdue, The Journal reported. People familiar with Sunriver told The Journal that the move was motivated in part by a want among the fund's leaders to cut back ties with the Sackler family.

The Sackler name fell under intense scrutiny in 2019 amid lawsuits that allege the family's company, which makes OxyContin, and some individual members of the family itself, played key roles in marketing the opioid aggressively to the public.

The family has denied any wrongdoing and is fighting the charges. So is Purdue. They reached a partial settlement in September with some of the states and cities suing them, which called for the Sacklers to contribute at least $3 billion to settle the charges and surrender ownership of Purdue, The Journal reported. But not all states agreed to the deal, and many of those that did, did not say the Sacklers should pay more, according to The Journal.

Meanwhile, there's a broader exodus afoot. Institutions including Columbia University, the New York Academy of Sciences, and the Metroplitain Museum of Art have reviewed, reduced, or halted their philanthropic donations from the Sacklers since January 2019.

Within the financial industry, the move by DeepCurrent and Sunriver brings the total count of funds distancing themselves from the Sacklers in light of the opioid crisis to four, according to The Journal. Hildene Capital Management and Balter Capital Management both stopped managing the Sacklers' money within the past year.

Management at Sunriver said it believes that will help the fund to garner new clients and limit the reputational hazard of a close affiliation with the Sacklers, according to The Journal report. A client of Sunriver told The Journal that he had heard the fund had conversations with investors who were wary of investing with a firm tied to the Sacklers.