CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
Judge orders Martin Shkreli to pay $65M for hiking drug priceMILLENIAL HUBRIS
Former Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli must pay $65 million for hiking the cost of Daraprim by 4,000%. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo
Jan. 14 (UPI) -- A federal judge on Friday ordered former pharmaceutical CEO Martin Shkreli to pay $64.6 million for illegally ballooning the price of a drug to treat parasitic diseases.
U.S. District Judge Denise Cote of the Southern District of New York also barred Shkreli from the pharmaceutical industry for life.
"Banning an individual from an entire industry and limiting his future capacity to make a living in that field is a serious remedy and must be done with care and only if equity demands," she wrote in her ruling.
"Shkreli's egregious, deliberate, repetitive, long-running and ultimately dangerous illegal conduct warrants imposition of an injunction of this scope."
Shkreli is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence in an unrelated fraud cause. A jury convicted him in August 2017 on charges he ran a Ponzi scheme from 2009 to 2014 and bilked investors out of $11 million.
Shkreli came to notoriety in 2015 after his company, Turing Pharmaceuticals, hiked the price of anti-parasite medication Daraprim from $13.50 to $750 per tablet. The drug is often used to treat HIV patients and others with compromised immune systems.
Friday's ruling was in response to a complaint filed by the Federal Trade Commission and the state of New York, accusing Shkreli and his company -- which is now known as Yvera Pharmaceuticals -- of concocting an elaborate competition-fixing scheme to maintain his monopoly over Daraprim.
After purchasing the drug in 2015, the complaint said Shkreli prevented other companies from developing a generic equivalent of the drug through drawing up restrictive distribution agreements that barred them from buying samples of the medication while also limiting their access to a necessary ingredient used in its manufacturing.
The $65 million Shkreli was ordered to pay Friday is on top of the $40 million Vyera agreed in December to pay to settle separate charges with the FTC.
New York Attorney General Letitia James welcomed the court's ruling, saying Shkreli was motivated by "envy, greed, lust and hate.
"Americans can rest easy because Martin Shkreli is a pharma bro no more," she said, referencing Shkreli's infamous nickname. "The rich and powerful don't get to play by their own set of rules, so I it seems that cash doesn't rule everything around Mr. Shkreli."
Former Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli must pay $65 million for hiking the cost of Daraprim by 4,000%. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo
Jan. 14 (UPI) -- A federal judge on Friday ordered former pharmaceutical CEO Martin Shkreli to pay $64.6 million for illegally ballooning the price of a drug to treat parasitic diseases.
U.S. District Judge Denise Cote of the Southern District of New York also barred Shkreli from the pharmaceutical industry for life.
"Banning an individual from an entire industry and limiting his future capacity to make a living in that field is a serious remedy and must be done with care and only if equity demands," she wrote in her ruling.
"Shkreli's egregious, deliberate, repetitive, long-running and ultimately dangerous illegal conduct warrants imposition of an injunction of this scope."
Shkreli is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence in an unrelated fraud cause. A jury convicted him in August 2017 on charges he ran a Ponzi scheme from 2009 to 2014 and bilked investors out of $11 million.
Shkreli came to notoriety in 2015 after his company, Turing Pharmaceuticals, hiked the price of anti-parasite medication Daraprim from $13.50 to $750 per tablet. The drug is often used to treat HIV patients and others with compromised immune systems.
Friday's ruling was in response to a complaint filed by the Federal Trade Commission and the state of New York, accusing Shkreli and his company -- which is now known as Yvera Pharmaceuticals -- of concocting an elaborate competition-fixing scheme to maintain his monopoly over Daraprim.
After purchasing the drug in 2015, the complaint said Shkreli prevented other companies from developing a generic equivalent of the drug through drawing up restrictive distribution agreements that barred them from buying samples of the medication while also limiting their access to a necessary ingredient used in its manufacturing.
The $65 million Shkreli was ordered to pay Friday is on top of the $40 million Vyera agreed in December to pay to settle separate charges with the FTC.
New York Attorney General Letitia James welcomed the court's ruling, saying Shkreli was motivated by "envy, greed, lust and hate.
"Americans can rest easy because Martin Shkreli is a pharma bro no more," she said, referencing Shkreli's infamous nickname. "The rich and powerful don't get to play by their own set of rules, so I it seems that cash doesn't rule everything around Mr. Shkreli."
Federal judge bans Martin Shkreli from the pharmaceutical industry for life, orders him to pay $64.6 million fine
jepstein@insider.com (Jake Epstein,Taiyler Simone Mitchell)
A judge reached a ruling in a lawsuit against former pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli Friday.
Shkreli was accused of hiking up the price of a life-saving drug.
He is now banned from the pharmaceutical industry and faces another suit from health insurers.
Former pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli was handed a lifetime ban from the industry and ordered to pay a $64.6 million fine, according to a federal judge's ruling on Friday.
Shkreli was sued in January 2020 for allegedly violating antitrust rules over fixing the price of the anti-parasitic drug Daraprim and delaying "the entry of generic competition for at least eighteen months," according to the ruling.
US District Judge Denise Cote said in a 135-page ruling that Shkreli's "egregious, deliberate, repetitive, long-running, and ultimately dangerous illegal conduct" warranted the stiff penalty.
The so-called "Pharma Bro" — who was also a former hedge fund manager before launching his career in pharmaceuticals — was previously convicted of securities fraud and is serving seven years in prison.
He also faces a new lawsuit filed last year by health insurers accusing him of illegally hiking the price of Daraprim from $17.50 to $750 per tablet once acquiring the rights to the drug in 2015.
Daraprim, according to the lawsuit, is "an essential, life-saving drug used in the treatment of toxoplasmosis."
The 38-year-old got his start in the pharmaceutical industry in 2011 as the founder of biotech firm Retrophin, according to BBC, but was soon removed from the company in 2014 following legal disputes.
"Americans can rest easy because Martin Shkreli is a 'pharma bro' no more," New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a Friday statement.
Shkreli's attorney, Christopher Casey, did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
jepstein@insider.com (Jake Epstein,Taiyler Simone Mitchell)
© Drew Angerer / Getty Images Martin Shkreli during his wire fraud trial in New York in 2017. Drew Angerer / Getty Images
A judge reached a ruling in a lawsuit against former pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli Friday.
Shkreli was accused of hiking up the price of a life-saving drug.
He is now banned from the pharmaceutical industry and faces another suit from health insurers.
Former pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli was handed a lifetime ban from the industry and ordered to pay a $64.6 million fine, according to a federal judge's ruling on Friday.
Shkreli was sued in January 2020 for allegedly violating antitrust rules over fixing the price of the anti-parasitic drug Daraprim and delaying "the entry of generic competition for at least eighteen months," according to the ruling.
US District Judge Denise Cote said in a 135-page ruling that Shkreli's "egregious, deliberate, repetitive, long-running, and ultimately dangerous illegal conduct" warranted the stiff penalty.
The so-called "Pharma Bro" — who was also a former hedge fund manager before launching his career in pharmaceuticals — was previously convicted of securities fraud and is serving seven years in prison.
He also faces a new lawsuit filed last year by health insurers accusing him of illegally hiking the price of Daraprim from $17.50 to $750 per tablet once acquiring the rights to the drug in 2015.
Daraprim, according to the lawsuit, is "an essential, life-saving drug used in the treatment of toxoplasmosis."
The 38-year-old got his start in the pharmaceutical industry in 2011 as the founder of biotech firm Retrophin, according to BBC, but was soon removed from the company in 2014 following legal disputes.
"Americans can rest easy because Martin Shkreli is a 'pharma bro' no more," New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a Friday statement.
Shkreli's attorney, Christopher Casey, did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
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