Price gouging pharmaceutical man-boy Martin Shkreli has been arrested on securities fraud charges, according to a Bloomberg report today. The 32 year old is suspected of plundering the life-saving drug Retrophin to pay debts.
Shkreli made headlines nationally when he raised the price of Retrophin from $13.50 per pill to $750 each. He was arrested by federal agents in Manhattan on Thursday.
“Martin Shkreli, 32, ignited a firestorm over drug prices in September and became a symbol of defiant greed. The federal case against him has nothing to do with pharmaceutical costs, however. Prosecutors in Brooklyn charged him with illegally taking stock from Retrophin Inc., a biotechnology firm he started in 2011, and using it to pay off debts from unrelated business dealings. He was later ousted from the company, where he’d been chief executive officer, and sued by its board,” Bloomberg reported. “In the case that closely tracks that suit, federal prosecutors accused Shkreli of engaging in a complicated shell game after his defunct hedge fund, MSMB Capital Management, lost millions. He is alleged to have made secret payoffs and set up sham consulting arrangements. A New York lawyer, Evan Greebel, was also arrested early Thursday. He’s accused of conspiring with Shkreli in part of the scheme.”
Read the full story here: http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2015-martin-shkreli-securities-fraud/