Widely despised pharmaceutical CEO Martin Shkreli arrested for alleged securities fraud
Martin Shkreli, the 32-year-old chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals who gained infamy for jacking up the price of a life-saving drug to $750 a dose, from $13.50, has been arrested on suspicion that he illegally siphoned shares from a biotech firm he founded to pay for unrelated debts, Bloomberg reported Thursday morning. Update: Reuters confirmed that FBI agents arrested Shkreli early Thursday; he was wearing a hoodie as he was escorted from his Midtown Manhattan apartment tower.
Shkreli was ousted from the earlier firm he started, Retrophin Inc., in 2014, and the board of that company has sued him, accusing him of misappropriating money from Retrophin to pay off investors in his defunct hedge fund, MSMB Capital Management. The Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to file a civil suit against Shkreli that hews closely to the federal criminal case.
After becoming a poster boy for greed and pharmaceutical excess with his 5,000 percent price hike for Daraprim, Shkreli purchased a majority stake in KaloBios Pharmaceuticals Inc., and KaloBios quickly and sharply raised the price of a medicine to fight Chagas, a fatal parasitic infection common in Latin America. And Shkreli, who first made a fortune shorting biopharmaceutical stocks, seems to be comfortable with his villain status. At a Forbes summit in New York earlier in December, the young chief executive, wearing a hoodie, said that if he were given a do-over on Daraprim pricing, "I probably would have raised the price higher" because "my investors expect me to maximize profits."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Melting polar ice is messing with global timekeeping
Speed Read Ice loss caused by climate change is slowing the Earth's rotation
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The Week contest: Stick guitar
Puzzles and Quizzes
By The Week US Published
-
'Sports executives ushered a fox into the henhouse'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
Disney and DeSantis reach detente
Speed Read The Florida governor and Disney settle a yearslong litigation over control of the tourism district
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Visa and Mastercard agree to lower swipe fees
Speed Read The companies will cap the fees they charge businesses when customers use their credit cards
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Reddit IPO values social media site at $6.4 billion
Speed Read The company makes its public debut on the New York Stock Exchange
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Housing costs: the root of US economic malaise?
speed read Many voters are troubled by the housing affordability crisis
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Feds cap credit card late fees at $8
speed read The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized a rule to save households an estimated $10 billion a year
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Immigration helped the US economy outpace peers
speed read The U.S. economy grew at an annualized rate of 3.2% last quarter
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
4-day workweek gets boost from UK study
Speed Read Following a six-month trial, the majority of participating British companies are still using the truncated schedule
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
US sues to block Kroger-Albertsons merger
Speed Read The Federal Trade Commission sued to block the $24.6 billion merger between the grocery giants
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published