Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli who
earned the title 'America's most hated man in
September', when he jacked up the price of the
anti-parasitic drug Daraprim, that benefits AIDS
patients, pregnant women and cancer patients
from $13.50 to $750 has been arrested.It is
alleged he illegally used stock from the
biotechnology firm he owned, Retrophin Inc. to
pay off debts related to his struggling hedge fund
and to pay back angry investors.
He is being charged with seven counts of fraud
for running what United States Attorney Robert L.
Capers of the Eastern District of New York is
calling a Ponzi scheme.
Shkreli, 32, pleaded not guilty to these allegations
and was released on a $5million bond after being
arraigned in federal court in Brooklyn Thursday
afternoo
He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in
prison if convicted.
The United States Attorney's office in a statement
said:
"I would think that members of his legal
team and the communication team would
advise him not to do the things that he has
done, particularly in light of an ongoing
criminal investigation," said Judy Smith, a
PR crisis management expert who
represented President Bill Clinton's former
mistress Monica Lewinsky.
"Most people that are aware they are under
a criminal investigation would not behave in
such a public way," said Smith, whose
career inspired the hit ABC series "Scandal."
"The risk of it is that it attracts and invites
attention, review and investigation of
ongoing business practices in a very public way, quite frankly."
Last week, it was revealed that Shkreli bought a
single-copy album of the hip-hop group Wu-Tang
Clan for $2 million. He then said he didn't plan on
listening to it anytime soon.
On Thursday, the Securities and Exchange
Commission unsealed a civil case against Shkreli,
accusing him of orchestrating "widespread
fraudulent conduct" from 2009 through 2014.
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