the night before the plea agreement was set to expire—after which the company would face charges—when a senior Justice Department officer phoned Brownlee at home (at a Purdue lawyer’s request), urging him to extend the deadline to give Purdue more time. Brownlee was through being pressured. The lobbying and negotiations had gone on long enough. The clock had all but run out. Rather than risk more serious charges or a jury trial in western Virginia, where the drug’s problems were by now legend, the company accepted the plea agreement later that night. But Purdue wasn’t quite finished
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