NEW YORK (AP) – The latest on the securities fraud arrest of Martin Shkreli, a pharmaceutical company executive who was vilified for ratcheting up the price of a life-saving drug.
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Shkreli’s arrest Thursday comes after a fraud investigation stemming from his time as manager of hedge fund MSMB Capital Management and CEO of biopharmaceutical company Retrophin Inc, a person familiar with the matter said.
Reuters witnessed Shkreli’s arrest at the Murray Hill Tower Apartments in midtown Manhattan. Law enforcement which includes Federal Bureau of research marketers may be seen escorting Shkreli, who become sporting a hoodie, right into a vehicle.
“Until we have had the opportunity to review the charges against Mr. Shkreli, we can not comment further”.
Retrophin – a company Shkreli was CEO of before the board ousted him in 2014 – is mentioned in the SEC’s complaint as well. To cover his trail, Mr. Shkreli allegedly paid investors back with cash and stock from Retrophin when they sought to withdraw cash from the funds.
Shkreli said if he could relive that moment, he “would have raised prices higher…”; prosecutors in Brooklyn plan on holding a press conference on the charges today.
The polarizing Shkreli was known to consumers for a cultivating a flamboyant persona on Twitter, where he aggressively defended Turing’s price hikes. The cost of the drug will soon increase from a couple hundred dollars for two months of treatment to a price structure which can run $100,000 for 12 weeks, according to Bloomberg.
He announced in September that he was jacking up the price of Daraprim, stoking outrage.
Shkreli has denied that the charges against him have any merit, but the federal indictment suggests something rather different.
Donald Trump has called Shkreli “a spoiled brat”, while Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders referred to him as “the most hated man in America”.
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Turing is also under investigation by the NY state attorney general for antitrust concerns. The drug is the only approved treatment for a rare parasitic infection called toxoplasmosis that mainly strikes pregnant women, cancer patients and AIDS patients.
