WALMART ON THE RECORD STATEMENT
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Texas (EDTX) engaged
in misconduct multiple times as it investigated Walmart, including threatening to
bring meritless criminal charges against Walmart in order to extort an unjustified
civil settlement from the company. This behavior was clearly improper, violated the
Department of Justice’s own internal policies and rules of legal ethics, and was
entirely inconsistent with the Department’s long-standing policies.
We reported to the Department of Justice the misconduct of certain EDTX officials
and their baseless allegations of criminal liability against Walmart. The Department
of Justice then assigned career prosecutors from Washington to review the facts and
law in this matter. Based upon this appropriate additional independent review, the
Department of Justice declined to pursue any criminal case against Walmart.
EDTX’s investigation rested on a flawed legal theory that Walmart should have
taken actions that not only were not required by federal law, but were contradicted
by multiple state laws. We strongly deny any criminal wrongdoing and believe the
Department’s decision not to prosecute was mandated by a fair application of the
law and the facts and the Justice Department’s rules. We only asked that the
Department of Justice give us a fair hearing, that the prosecutors conduct
themselves ethically, and that any baseless criminal investigation be closed, as
required by the proper application of the law.
Over the course of the EDTX investigation, the company was informed by the EDTX
that its goal was to “embarrass Walmart.” Unable to achieve that goal through a
baseless criminal prosecution, it appears that one or more individuals familiar with
EDTX’s investigation have violated Department of Justice rules in an attempt to
achieve through leaks what they could not accomplish in a court of law.
We are proud of our pharmacists and compliance experts who continue to serve the
best interests of our customers despite complex and often conflicting direction from
federal and state regulators and prescribers. During the timeframe that was the
focus of the EDTX investigation, Walmart submitted over 60,000 concerning
prescriptions to the DEA that Walmart pharmacists refused to fill. We are deeply
committed to helping solve the opioid crisis and we will continue to collaborate in
good faith with regulatory and law enforcement agencies.
We will continue to combat opioid misuse and abuse through our industry-leading
efforts, which go far beyond anything required by law. This work includes our firstof-its-kind policy to restrict initial acute opioid prescriptions to no more than a
seven-day supply, capped at a 50 morphine milligram equivalent (MME) maximum
per day, and our policies empowering pharmacists to refuse prescriptions they
believe are not for a legitimate purpose. We believe these forward-leaning policies
are unique among chain pharmacies and show our commitment to making a
meaningful impact on the opioid crisis in the communities we serve.