Detested Pharma CEO Arrested for Securities Fraud
Martin Shkreli, notoriously known as the pharmaceutical entrepreneur who jacked up the price of a life-saving AIDS pill by more than 5,000%, was arrested along with his former lawyer for securities fraud.
It is being reported that the 32-year-old CEO is accused of paying off debts from his failed hedge fund by illegally using funds from Retrophin, a biotechnology company he founded. His former lawyer, Evan Greebel, was arrested by the FBI on similar charges.
Shkreli rose to infamy earlier this year after Turing Pharmaceuticals raised the price of Daraprim — a 62-year-old drug that fights against the life-threatening parasite toxoplasmosis and protects cancer and AIDS patients — to $750 per tablet from $13.50.
The pill costs about $1 to produce.
“I could have raised it higher and made more profits for our shareholders, which is my primary duty,” Shkreli said. “No one wants to say it, no one's proud of it, but this is a capitalist society, capitalist system and capitalist rules, and my investors expect to me to maximize profits.”
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