Turing Pharmaceuticals executive Martin Shkreli, who was reviled for raising the price of an HIV-treating drug by 5,000 percent, was arrested Thursday on suspicion of securities fraud related to his previous hedge fund, according to Bloomberg Business.
Prosecutors allege Shekreli took stock from a biotech firm he started in 2011 to pay off unrelated debts, according to Bloomberg. He later was ousted from the company, Retrophin Inc., and sued by the board.
From Bloomberg:
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.
Shkreli hasn’t commented publicly since his arrest.
He made headlines as pharma’s bad boy in September when he raised the price of a drug, Daraprim, that treated deadly parasitic infection from $13.50 per pill to more than $750. He later said he would lower the price.
Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) presidential campaign rejected a $2,700-donation (the maximum individual donation to a candidate) from Shkreli in October. The campaign forwarded the donation to the Whitman-Walker health clinic in Washington, D.C.
But Shkreli couldn’t stay out of the headlines for long. He bought the sole copy of rap collective Wu-Tang Clan’s latest album, Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, in early December for $2 million.
