Pharma Bro now Prison Bro as Shkreli Sentenced to 7 Years

'Pharma Bro' Martin Shkreli gets 7 years

in securities fraud case

Judge ruled earlier this week that Shkreli would have to forfeit more than $7.3M

The Associated Press 

Martin Shkreli, who became notorious for raising the price of a life-saving drug by 5,000 per cent and trolling critics on the internet with his snarky "Pharma Bro" persona, was given a seven-year prison sentence on Friday for securities fraud.

Martin Shkreli, who became notorious for raising the price of a life-saving drug by 5,000 per cent and trolling critics on the internet with his snarky "Pharma Bro" persona, was given a seven-year prison sentence on Friday for securities fraud. (Seth Wenig/Associated Press)

The smirk wiped off his face, a crying Martin Shkreli was sentenced to seven years in prison for securities fraud Friday in a hard fall for the pharmaceutical-industry bad boy vilified for jacking up the price of a lifesaving drug.

Shkreli, the boyish-looking, 34-year-old entrepreneur dubbed the "Pharma Bro" for his loutish behaviour, was handed his punishment after a hearing in which he and his attorney struggled with limited success to make him a sympathetic figure. His own lawyer confessed to wanting to punch him in the face sometimes.

The defendant hung his head and choked up as he admitted to many mistakes and apologized to the investors he was convicted of defrauding. At one point, a clerk handed him a box of tissues.

"I want the people who came here today to support me to understand one thing: The only person to blame for me being here today is me," he said. "There is no conspiracy to take down Martin Shkreli. I took down Martin Shkreli."

In the end, U.S. District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto gave him a sentence that fell well short of the 15 years prosecutors wanted but was a lot longer than the 18 months his lawyer asked for. He was also fined $75,000 US.

Shkreli was found guilty in August of lying to investors in two failed hedged funds and cheating them out of millions. The case was unrelated to the 2015 furor in which he was accused of price-gouging, but his arrest was seen as rough justice by the many enemies he made with his smug and abrasive behavior online and off.

The judge insisted that the punishment was not about Shkreli's online antics or his raising the cost of the drug. "This case is not about Mr. Shkreli's self-cultivated public persona ... nor his controversial statements about politics or culture," Matsumoto said.

This courtroom sketch shows former pharmaceutical CEO Martin Shkreli, left, seated next to his lawyer Ben Brafman in U.S. federal court in New York on Friday. (Elizabeth Williams via Associated Press)

But she did say his conduct after the verdict made her doubt the sincerity of his remorse. She cited his bragging after the verdict that he would be sentenced to time served. And she quoted one piece of correspondence in which he wrote: "F—- the feds."

The judge ruled earlier that Shkreli would have to forfeit more than $7.3 million in a brokerage account and personal assets, including a one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album that he boasted of buying for $2 million.

Defense attorney Benjamin Brafman described Shkreli as a misunderstood eccentric who used unconventional means to make his defrauded investors even wealthier. He told the court that he sometimes wants to hug Shkreli and sometimes wants to punch him, but that his outspokenness shouldn't be held against him.

"It's like the kids today who hit send before they really understand what they texted," Brafman said.

Prosecutors rejected that notion.

"Mr. Shkreli is not a child," federal prosecutor Jacquelyn Kasulis said. "He's not a teenager who just needs some mentoring. He is a man who needs to take responsibility for his actions."

Shkreli became the face of pharmaceutical industry evil in 2015 when he increased by 5,000 percent the price of Daraprim, a previously cheap drug used to treat toxoplasmosis, a parasitic infection that can be fatal to people with the AIDS virus or other immune system disorders.

Shkreli seemed to treat the case like a big joke. After his arrest in December 2015, he taunted prosecutors, got kicked off of Twitter for harassing a female journalist, heckled Hillary Clinton from the sidewalk outside her daughter's home, gave speeches with the conservative provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos and spent countless hours livestreaming himself from his apartment.

He also infuriated members of Congress at a Capitol Hill hearing on drug prices when he repeatedly cited his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Afterward, he tweeted that the lawmakers were "imbeciles."

Last fall, the judge revoked his bail and threw him in jail after he jokingly offered his online followers a $5,000 bounty to anyone who could get a lock of Clinton's hair.

Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Prov 16:18.

Wiping the Smirk Off Shkreli's Face

'Pharma Bro' Shkreli sent to jail after offering

$5k for Clinton's hair in cloning joke

FILE PHOTO: Martin Shkreli, former chief executive officer of Turing Pharmaceuticals and KaloBios Pharmaceuticals Inc © Brendan McDermid / Reuters

Convicted fraudster and former pharmaceuticals company CEO Martin Shkreli, once dubbed the "most hated man in America," is headed to jail after having his bail revoked over a Facebook post in which he offered $5,000 for a strand of Hillary Clinton's hair.

US District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto ruled on Wednesday that Shkreli's post on September 4 showed he posed a danger to the public.

In that post, the 34-year-old offered a generous bounty to anyone who could steal a hair from former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton while she was on her book tour.

"The Clinton Foundation is willing to KILL to protect its secrets. So on HRC’s book tour, try to grab a hair from her. I must confirm the sequences I have. Will pay $5,000 per hair obtained from Hillary Clinton," the Facebook post stated.

Although Shkreli's lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, argued the post fell under the right to free speech, Judge Matsumoto disagreed. 

"This is a solicitation of assault in exchange for money,” the judge said. “That is not protected by the First Amendment.”

Matsumoto was also unsympathetic to a letter written to her by Shkreli on Tuesday, in which the 34-year-old said the Facebook post was meant as satire. Brafman maintained that line on Wednesday, prompting the judge to pointedly ask: "What's funny about that?"

Wiping that smirk off Shkreli's face - now that's funny!

Matsumoto noted that one of Shkreli's 93,000 Facebook followers could have taken the post seriously, setting out on a mission to steal a piece of Clinton's hair.

The judge also pointed to a July post by Shkreli in which he said he would have sex with journalist Lauren Duca as part of a pattern of threatening behavior. Shkreli was banned from Twitter in January for harassing Duca after she refused his invitation to attend US President Donald Trump's inauguration.

The judge's ruling ordered that Shkreli's bail be revoked, resulting in jail time for the former CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, who was convicted in August of defrauding investors of two hedge funds he ran, MSMB Capital and MSMB Healthcare.

Brafman unsuccessfully pleaded with Matsumoto following the ruling, asking her to reconsider sending Shkreli to what he said would be a maximum security jail, or at least give him until Monday to prove he was not a threat. 

“We are obviously disappointed,” Brafman told reporters outside the Brooklyn, New York, courthouse. “We believed that the court arrived at the wrong decision. But she’s the judge, and right now we will have to live with this decision.”

Shkreli had been enjoying his freedom since his arrest in December 2015, after paying a bail of $5 million.

Matsumoto scheduled Shkreli's sentencing for the securities fraud conviction for January 16. His charges carry a maximum sentence of 20 years, but the 34-year-old is expected to serve much less, partly because none of the investors involved in his schemes lost any money.

Shkreli became a household name in 2015 when he raised the price of the anti-infection drug Daraprim by 5,000 percent, from $13.50 to $750 a pill.

That move resulted in him being dubbed "Pharma Bro" and "the most hated man in America," as people with weakened immune systems - including AIDS patients - have come to rely on the pill.

Following a backlash from politicians, patients’ rights groups and Twitter users, Shkreli eventually announced his company had agreed to "lower the price of Daraprim to a point that is more affordable and is able to allow the company to make a profit, but a very small profit," ABC News reported at the time.

'Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli Guilty of Fraud

© Spencer Platt / AFP

Eccentric former pharmaceutical CEO Martin Shkreli, dubbed “the most hated man in America,” has been convicted of fraud for deceiving investors in a pair of failing hedge funds. His defense team argued that his investors made hefty profits.

A New York jury deliberated for five days before finding Shkreli guilty of three out of eight counts against him. He was found guilty of securities fraud but not of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, AP reported.

Prosecutors in the five week trial accused Shkreli of repeatedly misleading investors about what he was doing with their money.

Shkreli, 34, told “lies upon lies,” including claiming he had $40 million in one of his funds at a time when it only had about $300 in the bank, Assistant US Attorney, Alixandra Smith said in closing arguments, reported AP.

Prosecutors said he kept making horrible stock picks which forced him to cook up schemes to recover millions in losses.

The federal trial “exposed Martin Shkreli for who he is really is – a con man who stole millions,” said another prosecutor, Jacquelyn Kasulis.

Shkreli, who comes from an Albanian family in Brooklyn, was arrested in 2015 on charges he looted Retrophin, another drug company he founded, of $11 million in stock and cash to pay back hedge fund investors.

Investors took the witness stand to accuse Shkreli of keeping them in the dark as his scheme unfolded.

Complicating the case however, was testimony from some wealthy financiers in Texas, who conceded that Shkreli’s scheme made them richer, in some cases doubling and even tripling their money on his company’s stock when it went public.

"Who lost anything? Nobody," defense attorney Ben Brafman said in his closing argument.

Some investors had to admit on the witness stand that partnering with Shkreli was "the greatest investment I've ever made," he added.

Shkreli came to national attention after he purchased rights to a life-saving drug, Daraprim, in 2014, where he promptly raised the price from $13.50 to $750 per pill, leading him to be referred to as “the most hated man in America” and “pharma bro.”

He faces as much as 20 years in prison.

Dirty Underbelly: Shkreli Fires Off Drug Industry List of Failures

Martin Shkreli, aka Pharma Bro, showed the industry he’s not the guys to mess with after a pharma trade company launched an ad campaign which takes a pot shot at him. Shkreli has fired back with a website listing drug companies’ scandals.

"I’m pretty p***** off,” opens Shkreli on his YouTube post introducing this tell-all website, pharmaskeletons.com. “This lobby group, PhRMA, thinks it’s a good idea to come after me for the industry’s problems. So I made a website called Pharmaskeletons.com, and you can see the industry has quite a history of problems.”

The link above did not work for me, Shkreli may have taken the site down. Below is a 10:33 rant which probably contains most of what was on the site. It is laced with course language so caution advised.

Shkreli said he went through each member of the PhRMA lobbying group and made a website about some of the scandals that have plagued the companies in the past. He mentioned 26 specific drug companies and has harsh words for 25 of them.

“Because to call these companies model corporate citizens would be an error,” said Shkreli.

Shkreli’s website has an alphabetical list of drug companies, with notes and links to stories of some of the drugs that caused scandals for the company, whether for drug prices hikes, or burying side-effects of drugs, or extreme measures over drug recalls.

“Merck. I have a special place in heart to take a s*** on Merck. This is a company that has as their CEO a lawyer who prior to Merck worked at McDonald’s,” stated Shkreli.

“Merck had a drug called Vioxx. They allegedly hid the data that showed drug caused cardiovascular problems. Vioxx is a pain drug. It was pulled from the market. It almost took Merck down. The CEO, I mentioned, saved the company by settling these lawsuits. The fact of the matter is there is a dirty underbelly at Merck that was about selling Vioxx not about caring patients.”

I was on Vioxx for a few months and it worked wonderfully for pain and inflammation, but my heart went ridiculously a-rythmic and I had to stop taking it.

Shkreli gained notoriety when he hiked the price of a drug essential to many HIV patients by 5,000 percent.

What rankled with Shkreli was PhRMA’s new multi-million dollar ad campaign, launched on Monday, which aims to distance itself from Shrekli.

“Much of the public discussion has been myopically focused on drug prices and not on the value the products bring to patient care, the health care system, the economy as a whole. Much of the public discussion has been focused on some guy in a hoodie,” PhRMA CEO Stephen Ubl told CNBC, a reference to Shkreli’s trademark attire.

Ubl said the new campaign would show the world the drug industry is about hard work and scientific discovery, not price gouging.

“We want to close that gap. Less hoodie, more lab coats,” Ubl added.

Shkreli fired back at the end of his post on the website.

“Look in the mirror. This website took me half an hour to make, just 'membering a few moments from the past. Pharma is a wonderful industry that does great things, but trying to throw me under the bus is foolish. Let me remind you 90% of your members' CEOs could not hold a candle to me in scientific knowledge, achievements or wealth and entrepreneurial achievements,” he wrote.

Big Pharma needs to work on a pill for humility!

Big Pharma Still Sucking the Blood Out of Sick and Needy

There's a new Martin Shkreli on the block

Senators have allergic reaction to EpiPen price hike

© mylan.com

A five-fold increase in the price of emergency allergy medication has drawn a reaction from several US senators, who have accused the manufacturer of exploiting a monopoly. It is also prompting comparisons with “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli.

EpiPen administers a quick dose of epinephrine to counter a severe, life-threatening allergic reaction known as anaphylaxis. The easy-to-use injector is made by the West Virginia-based Mylan Pharmaceuticals, which now finds itself accused of price gouging and compared to Martin Shkreli’s 5,000-percent price hike of anti-parasitic medication Daraprim.

Mylan bought EpiPen from the Merck Group in 2007, and has since raised the price by more than 450 percent, adjusted for inflation, reported the Boston Globe’s health publication STAT. Selling for around $100 in 2008, the injector now retails for around $600. Given that US doctors have issued some 3.6 million prescriptions for the injector last year, the hike is not sitting well with some US senators.

“Not only is this alarming price increase unjustified, it puts life-saving treatment out of reach to the consumers who need it most,” Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) wrote to Federal Trade Commission chair Edith Ramirez on Monday. The increasing cost is driving patients to rely on expired EpiPens or traditional syringes that “require more training and are potentially more dangerous,” Klobuchar wrote.

The letter follows the Minnesota senator’s call for a Judiciary Committee hearing and an FTC investigation into the price hike. In a statement on Friday, Klobuchar pointed out that SanofiUS had to recall its competing product from the market last fall, while Teva’s generic version of the injector failed to receive regulatory approval earlier this year.

“This outrageous increase in the price of EpiPens is occurring at the same time that Mylan Pharmaceutical is exploiting a monopoly market advantage that has fallen into its lap,” Klobuchar said. “Patients all over the US rely on these products, including my own daughter.”

Senate Judiciary Committee chair Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) took up Klobuchar’s suggestion, writing to Mylan on Monday with a request for explanation.

“Please explain the changes Mylan has made to EpiPen since the acquisition that have caused it to increase the price and reflects the value the product provides,”Grassley wrote, also challenging the company to show its compliance with a 2013 law mandating school access to emergency epinephrine.

Responding to Grassley’s request, Mylan said it has provided over 700,000 free EpiPens to some 65,000 US schools participating in the company’s program.

"Mylan has worked tirelessly over the past several years advocating for increased anaphylaxis awareness, preparedness and access to treatment for those living with potentially life-threatening (severe) allergies," the company said in a statement. "Ensuring access to epinephrine — the only first-line treatment for anaphylaxis — is a core part of our mission.”

Pfft! Ensuring sickening, unjustified profits is THE core part of your mission.

Mylan dodged questions about the specifics of EpiPen pricing, however, by pointing out the “current changes in the healthcare insurance landscape,” with many people enrolling in “high deductible health plans.”

The retail price of an EpiPen went from $265 in July 2013 to $350 in 2014, when the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare) went into effect. By the following year, the price was up to $460 and then to $600, according to a Wells Fargo analysis quoted by CNBC.

Heather Bresch - the new Martin Shkreli

As the price of EpiPens rose, so did the company’s stock price, going from $13.29 a share in 2007 to a high of $47.59 this year. Mylan CEO Heather Bresch (left) also saw her compensation go up 671 percent in the same time period, from $2.4 million to $18.9 million, NBC News reported.

But, I'm sure their motives are entirely altruistic, right?

Vermont Senator and former presidential contender Bernie Sanders also blasted Mylan for price gouging, telling NBC News last week that “the only explanation for Mylan raising the price by six times since 2009 is that the company values profits more than the lives of millions of Americans.”

Although, what major industry in America does value the lives of Americans above profits? Can you think of any?

'Pharma Bro' Martin Shkreli Keeps Mum at House Hearing, Calls Congress 'Imbeciles'

How to Win Friends and Influence People

Martin Shkreli, former CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals LLC, prepares to testify before a House Oversight and Government Reform hearing on "Developments in the Prescription Drug Market Oversight" on Capitol Hill in Washington February 4, 2016. © Joshua Roberts / Reuters

Pharma CEO Martin Shkreli, the "most hated man on the internet" who raised the price of a HIV drug by 5,000%, chose to remain silent during the Congressional hearing on prescription drug prices. He later tweeted calling the government 'imbeciles'.

Summoned before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to give testimony on recent increases in prices of prescription drugs, Shkreli invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege to remain silent.

To the repeated urging of chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) and Representative Trey Gowdy (R-SC), the ex-CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals merely replied he intended "to follow to advice of my counsel, not yours."

Shkreli's lawyer also advised him not to speak to the press. Seeing that they would get nothing from the  ex-CEO, the committee dismissed him early.  

The New York-born "Pharma Bro" gained notoriety after Turing raised the price of Daraprim, a drug essential for HIV treatment, from $13.50 to $750 per pill in just over a month last fall. His contempt for critics earned him the moniker of "the most hated man on the internet." 

Shkreli is currently being investigated for fraud related to his activity in a hedge fund and Retrophin, a pharmaceutical company he owned before his tenure at Turing.

He has not been coy defending his actions and lifestyle in interviews and on twitter, but during the congressional hearing he preferred to smirk and grin instead of answering the questions.

He took it to twitter later.

Twitter
Martin Shkreli ✔ @MartinShkreli
Hard to accept that these imbeciles represent the people in our government.
7:17 AM - 4 Feb 2016


They don't represent 'the people in our government', they are the people in our government and they represent the people of the United States.

You might force yourself to accept it, because it's true. Whether 'imbeciles' or not, they are some of the most powerful men in the country. Your smirking and insulting them will not serve you well down the road. Perhaps when you get there, you might have a better idea of who the 'imbecile' is. 

Meanwhile, have you ever heard of Dale Carnegie?

Turing Pharma CEO Martin Shkreli Arrested in Securities Probe

Drug company executive was vilified for dramatically boosting drug prices

The best news I've heard all day

CBC News 

Martin Shkreli, chief executive officer of Turing Pharmaceuticals, exits federal court in New York on Dec. 17, 2015. Shkreli was arrested on alleged securities fraud related to Retrophin Inc., a biotech firm he founded in 2011. (Louis Lanzano/Bloomberg)

Pharmaceutical entrepreneur Martin Shkreli, vilified for buying up drug companies and then dramatically boosting the prices of some medications, has been charged by the FBI with securities fraud related to his former hedge fund and a drug company he once ran. 

Shkreli, 32, currently the CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, was taken into custody at his New York City home Thursday. 

The case relates to his dealings at two firms, including Retrophin Inc., a biopharmaceutical company that he founded and used to head. Shkreli's arrest also stems from his time as manager of hedge fund MSMB Capital Management.

A seven-count indictment unsealed in Brooklyn Federal Court charged Shkreli with:

Conspiracy to commit securities fraud.
Conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Securities fraud. 

The indictment alleges Shkreli, among others, fraudulently induced people to invest in two separate funds, and misappropriated the assets of Retrophin to satisfy Shkreli's personal and unrelated professional debt obligations.

Shkreli "engaged in multiple schemes to ensnare investors through a web of lies and deceit," U.S. attorney Robert Capers said in a statement.

Retrophin sued Shkreli in August for $65 million US. The firm claimed Shkreli had used his control over Retrophin to enrich himself and pay off claims of investors in MSMB. Shkreli denied those allegations.

"Pride goes before a fall"

Increased drug price by 5,000%

The new allegations levelled at Shkreli on Thursday have nothing to do with the price-gouging accusations that turned him into a poster boy for corporate greed back in September.

Shkreli was widely vilified when he jacked up the price of Daraprim, a potentially life-saving anti-parasitic drug treatment, from $13.50 a pill to $750.

The drug is the only one that is approved for the treatment of toxoplasmosis, a disease that is most common among pregnant women, cancer patients and AIDS patients.

Faced with a firestorm of protest, he initially said his firm would lower the price. But Turing Pharmaceuticals later backed away from that promise.

It's pretty obvious what kind of character a person has when he holds sick people and government medical systems to ransom for the sake of personal gain. So it should not be surprising if he has no more regard for the law than he does for the welfare of the people who use his products.

With files from Reuters and The Associated Press