Martin Shkreli, known for his notorious price-gouging controvesy of life-saving drugs, was caught for security fraud on December 16. He was released on $5 million bail. A new court document showed that he secure the bail with his $45 million E-Trade account.
Based on complaints from Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), federal agents arrested Shkreli on the fraud allegation. He was charged to conduct trading of three interrelated fraudulent schemes by money from Retrophin to repay investors in MSMB Capital. A transaction which prosecutors said as a Ponzi-like scheme.
He pleaded not guilty and was released on $5 million bail, and according to CNN Money, new court documents show Shkreli used his $45 million E-Trade account to secure bail.
CNBC reported that magistrate judge in Brooklyn, New York, agreed to accept Shkreli's account as collateral for the bond. The judge, Kiyo Matsumoto placed a number of tight restrictions on the deal and Shrekli had until Friday to determine what assets he wanted to use to secure his release.
Shkreli was known for his notorious action to increase the price of Pyrimethamine, trademarked in U.S. as Daraprim to unbelievable price. The pill is a life-saving drug used for treating parasite infection. Following his action, Shkreli has been the focus of widespread criticism in the media which dubbed him "the most hated man in America," and politicians from Hillary Clinton to Donald Trump criticized his action as well.
Previously, Shkreli used Turing Pharmaceuticals to purchase manufacturing rights to produce Daraprim from Impax Laboratories and remove Pyrimethamines from pharmacies all over USA. Afterwards, he increased the price from $13.50 to $750. Nonetheless in Europe, Pyrimethamine is available under $1 a pill.
Turing Pharmaceutical was founded in February 2015 with strategy to obtain out-of-patent medicine and increase the price. In November 2015, Shkreli acquired majority stake in KaloBios Pharmaceutical through an investor group. He was then appointed CEO of the company that researched a drug for cancer treatment.
Federal prosecutor said that his endeavor in price-hike of life-saving drugs had no relationship with his arrest. However, Shkreli insisted that price-hike of the drugs was the reason the government to target him. After his arrest, Shkreli resigned as CEO of Turing Pharmaceutical.
Bloomberg reported that KaloBios Pharmaceuticals fired him as CEO after the arrest and sought bankruptcy protection in late December. Investors have sued that company to recover $5.4 million.
Martin Shkreli in his career has made three risky venture in pharmaceutical industry. His method operation is always the same, to obtain the rights to a medicine and selling the medicine at the highest price as possible.
Join the Conversation