Louis Milione, a former top Drug Enforcement Administration official, has quietly left his post amid reports surrounding his previous work for the pharmaceutical industry.
Before working as the agency's principal deputy administrator, Milione was a consultant to Purdue Pharma, a company heavily associated with the opioid epidemic.
Milione's work for Purdue allegedly involved a $600-per-hour payment to help it navigate multiple state legal challenges surrounding its drug OxyContin, billed as a crucial part of the subsequent crisis.
He reportedly worked for several other Big Pharma companies before returning to the DEA to be Administrator Anne Milgram's top deputy in 2021. He previously had left the agency in 2017 after 21 years.
"Working for Purdue Pharma should not help you get a higher job in government," Revolving Door Project head Jeff Hauser stated. "Too much collegiality is a problem. It's hard to view your past and potentially future colleagues as scofflaws. Any independent person would find this abhorrent."
Still, Milione suggested in a statement this week that his decision to leave had nothing to do with the reporting against him and was due to personal reasons, according to AP.
Former DEA head of operations John Coleman expressed skepticism at Milgram's decision to pick Milione despite his past corporate entanglements, even if he did recuse himself from some cases.
"There's no way to isolate that person from the day-to-day business of the agency, which includes regulating companies that make and distribute controlled substances," Coleman explained. "I don't see how that's possible."
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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