Martin Shkreli, former CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals AG, center, pauses as he speaks to the media with attorney Benjamin Brafman, right, outside federal court in Brooklyn, New York, USA, on Friday, August 4, 2017.
Peter Foley | Bloomberg | beautiful pictures
Federal Trade Commission on Friday ask that Notorious “pharmaceutical tycoon” Martin Shkreli was arrested in disregard the court to shape a new pharmaceutical company violated a judge’s ban on convicted fraudsters working in the pharmaceutical industry.
Shkreli, who was release from prison last year, in february has been banned “for life from directly or indirectly
engaged in any way in the pharmaceutical industry” as a result of the FTC’s antitrust lawsuit against him and a former pharmaceutical company he founded.
That order stems from Manhattan federal court Judge Denise Cote’s January 2022 ruling that Shkreli oversaw an illegal scheme to maintain a monopoly on the life-saving drug Daraprim, which continued even while he was in jail for an unrelated crime. securities fraud case
In Friday’s court filings, the FTC noted that Shkreli in July announced the creation of a new company, Druglike, that “looks like it’s going to get into the pharmaceutical industry.”
Druglike’s Citation Profile Press Release on that announcement, calling the company “the Web3 drug discovery software platform co-founded by Martin Shkreli.”
The FTC said the incorporation of the company, as well as Shkreli’s failure to pay his share of nearly $25 million in the $64.6 million judgment he owes in the lawsuit, indicate that he is violating the law. violated a court order in the case.
The FTC and a group of states that sued Shkreli said in the lawsuit that he failed to comply with their requests to provide them with documents and send them an interview as part of the investigation. on whether his involvement with Druglike violated Cote’s order barring him from participating. industry.
The FTC said Shkreli was required by order of Côte to provide the agency with that information.
Holly Vedova, Director of the FTC’s Competition Bureau, said: “Martin Shkreli’s failure to comply with a court order is a clear disregard for the law.
“The FTC will not hesitate to deploy its full powers to enable a full investigation of any potential misconduct,” Vedova said.
Benjamin Brafman, Shkreli’s attorney, declined to comment on the FTC filing.
Shkreli shot to fame in mid-2015, when his pharmaceutical company now known as Vyera Pharmaceuticals raised the price of Daraprim, an anti-parasitic drug used to treat pregnant women, infants and humans HIV infection, to more than 4,000% mercilessly. $17.50 each up to $750.
In December 2015, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, New York, criminally charged Shkreli in connection with defrauding investors in two hedge funds he previously ran and stock manipulation. shares of another fund. company founded by youRetrophin, now known as Travere Therapy.
Shkreli was convicted at trial in mid-2017 to several counts in that case. His $5 million post-trial bond has been withdrawn weeks later, after a judge offered a cash reward of $5,000 to his Facebook followers if they provided him with a hair sample of former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Shkreli was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2018. He was released into a federal penthouse last May.
Shkreli was brought back to New York from prison in Pennsylvania by a friend, Edmund Sullivan, who had previously served on Retrophin’s board.
Sullivan is mentioned in court documents in Shkreli’s criminal case as one of seven individuals who received thousands of shares at the direction of Shkreli in a front company used by Retrophin as a vehicle for trading. public. Sullivan was not charged with wrongdoing in the case.
