Martin Shkreli, former CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals and the centerpiece of the recent drug industry’s price-gouging scandal, has been indicted on seven counts of securities and wire fraud for alleged conduct at several of his previous companies.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, Shkreli was arrested earlier this month and faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted on all counts:
“A seven-count indictment was unsealed this morning in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, charging Martin Shkreli, the founder and managing member of hedge funds MSMB Capital Management LP (MSMB Capital) and MSMB Healthcare Management LP (MSMB Healthcare) and former Chief Executive Officer of Retrophin Inc. (Retrophin), a biopharmaceutical company that trades under the ticker symbol RTRX . . . Shkreli is charged with securities fraud, securities fraud conspiracy, and wire fraud conspiracy for orchestrating three interrelated schemes: schemes to defraud investors in MSMB Capital and MSMB Healthcare and a scheme to misappropriate Retrophin’s assets.”
Federal investigators believe Shkreli defrauded Retrophin of $3.4 million in cash and stock.
According to one report, the indictment order “contends Shkreli conspired to defraud investors in two hedge funds he ran between 2006 and 2012 that he then liquidated after draining all of their assets. Shkreli moved on to drugmaker Retrophin—which he ran between 2012 and 2014—and is accused of using corporate money to pay off investors and debt on his failed hedge funds.”
Apparently unconcerned, Shkreli calls the federal charges against him baseless:
There is no mention of Shkreli’s conduct after founding Turing in February in the indictment, including raising the price of the antiparasitic drug Daraprim (pyrimethamine) more than 5,000 percent (from $13.50 a pill to $750 a pill).
On the Today Show, Stephanie Gosk said the following: “Martin Shkreli calls the federal charges against him baseless, but there is no escaping the fallout.”
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