EXCLUSIVE: Private equity giant KKR bought hundreds of group homes. Some people in its care paid a steep price.

APRIL 25, 2022

THE BIG STORY

Private equity giant KKR bought up hundreds of group homes. Some people in its care paid a steep price.

A portrait of Warren Chapman III, who died under BrightSpring care, in the living room of the Chapman home. Arin Yoon for BuzzFeed News

The private equity giant KKR became famous for a particular playbook: It acquired iconic companies such as RJR Nabisco, Duracell, and Toys R Us, loaded them up with debt, and sold them off.

In 2019, KKR took on a new responsibility: With its $1.3 billion purchase of BrightSpring Health Services, KKR became the owner of more than 600 residential facilities serving people with severe intellectual or developmental disabilities. Many residents have no family to look out for them. Almost all need round-the-clock care.

A yearlong BuzzFeed News investigation found that KKR focused on expanding the business even as a crisis mounted in its group home division, where conditions grew so dire that caretakers quit in droves, a state prohibited the company from accepting new residents, and some of the most vulnerable people in its care suffered and died.

In many cases, BrightSpring executives kept wages lower than those at competing group homes or Walmarts despite pleas from local managers that they were unable to safely staff the homes at the rates the company paid. Some managers resorted to making employees work three days straight or threatening to have them arrested if they tried to leave. At least three people died following alarming lapses in staff care. One of them died after state authorities warned the company — twice — that she was in danger.

Meanwhile, the KKR-controlled board approved a plan for BrightSpring to take on more than $1 billion in debt to buy yet more companies.

The companies refused an on-the-record interview. KKR said, "We vehemently disagree with the grossly misleading narrative you presented," adding that it had invested $200 million per year in "quality first initiatives" and raised compensation significantly. BrightSpring called BuzzFeed News' findings "inaccurate, misleading, and fundamentally flawed."

KKR has announced plans to take the company public, a development that could yield windfall returns for its investors and executives.

STAYING ON TOP OF THIS

Ukrainians fleeing Russia's war are getting fast-tracked into the US, while other immigrants fleeing violence still face stiff barriers

Ukrainians, who fled to Mexico amid the Russian invasion of their homeland, walk at the El Chaparral port of entry to cross into the US Stringer / Reuters

For Ukrainians fleeing their war-torn country, the process to enter the US from Tijuana can take hours or days, immigration lawyers said, and hundreds are being processed daily. Meanwhile, immigrants from other places like Central America, Haiti, and Africa have been waiting months, and in some cases more than a year, in Mexico for the opportunity to seek refuge within the US.
It's not that Ukrainians shouldn't receive the current treatment, advocates argue, but Black and brown immigrants who are also fleeing violence should be treated the same way. "When it comes to non-white people, we have to fight to validate our humanity, to validate our need for protection, our need for love, and our need to just be able to survive," Guerline Jozef, cofounder of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, said.

SNAPSHOTS

Amazon workers in New York say they were fired for union organizing. Workers walked off the job in March, demanding a $3-an-hour pay increase and rest breaks. Previously, in December, workers at that facility petitioned with five other warehouses to demand heightened safety protocols after six Amazon workers were killed by a tornado in Kentucky.

Republicans endorsed Kristina Karamo, a 2020 election denier, to run Michigan's elections as the party's candidate for secretary of state. Karamo is one of at least 17 election deniers running this year to take over elections in 14 states.

A man allegedly threatened to bomb the Merriam-Webster offices over the dictionary definitions of "girl" and "woman." Jeremy David Hanson, 34, was charged with one count of interstate communication of threats to commit violence, according to the Justice Department.

GUN VIOLENCE IN DC

The DC gunman who wounded 4 people had a "sniper-type setup" and was shooting randomly with the intent to kill anyone around, police said

The shooter who injured four people in Washington, DC on Friday was perched on a "sniper-type setup" on a fifth-floor window as he shot dozens of rounds into the street, officials said. Four people were shot in the attack, authorities said, including a 54-year-old man, a woman in her 30s, and a 12-year-old girl. The three were taken to a nearby hospital and were listed in stable condition. A woman in her 60s appeared to have suffered a "graze-like" wound and was treated at the scene.

By Friday night, police said the gunman appeared to have killed himself just as officers were about to locate him. Little was known about the suspect or his motives as of Saturday, but Metropolitan Police officials said they were inspecting the shooter's online presence in search of clues, including a short video that appeared to have been recorded from the angle of the man as he was shooting from an elevated window.

The attack came the same week that the CDC released new data showing that guns have become the leading cause of death among children and teens, surpassing car crashes. In 2020, there were 45,222 firearm deaths in the US, and they became the number one killer among people 19 years old or younger.

CAN YOU SOLVE THEM ALL

Test your knowledge with the latest grammar quiz from our copy desk

Did you know some goats can climb trees? Happy belated Earth Day to us all. NurPhoto via Getty Images

Yeah, yeah, Earth Day was a few days ago, but we're sharing this environmental-themed challenge anyway because grammar is forever. Remember: All these questions rely on BuzzFeed style.

Which sentence is grammatically correct?

Planting trees, which absorb carbon dioxide, is a popular Earth Day activity. However, placing trees where they wouldn't naturally grow can disrupt biodiversity.
Planting trees which absorb carbon dioxide is a popular Earth Day activity. However, placing trees where they wouldn't naturally grow can disrupt biodiversity.
Planting trees, which absorb carbon dioxide, is a popular Earth day activity. However, placing trees where they wouldn't naturally grow can disrupt biodiversity.
Planting trees, that absorb carbon dioxide, is a popular Earth Day activity. However, placing trees where they wouldn't naturally grow can disrupt biodiversity.

Which sentence has been copyedited?

Heatwaves, floods and hurricanes are just some of the natural disasters occurring more frequently because of climate change.
Heat waves, floods, and hurricanes are just some of the natural disasters occurring more frequently because of climate change.
Heatwaves, floods, and hurricanes are just some of the natural disasters occurring more frequently because of climate change.
Heat waves, floods and hurricanes are just some of the natural disasters occurring more frequently because of climate change.

Pick the sentence a BuzzFeed copy editor would sign off on.

Gen Z is leading the way in sustainable shopping. Forty-five percent of people in that demographic have avoided a purchase that's not environmentally friendly.
Gen-Z is leading the way in sustainable shopping. 45% of people in that demographic have avoided a purchase that's not environmentally-friendly.
Gen z is leading the way in sustainable shopping. Forty-five percent of people in that demographic have avoided a purchase that's not environmentally friendly.
Gen Z is leading the way in sustainable shopping. 45% of people in that demographic have avoided a purchase that's not environmentally-friendly.

Feeling like a grammar god? Take the full quiz here.

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Alexa

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