Martin Shkreli, former chief executive officer of Turing Pharmaceuticals AG, center, pauses while speak to members of the media together with his attorney Benjamin Brafman, right, outside federal court within the Brooklyn borough of Latest York, U.S., on Friday, Aug. 4, 2017.
Peter Foley | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The Federal Trade Commission on Friday asked that notorious “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli be held in contempt of court for forming a recent drug company in violation of a judge’s ban on the convicted fraudster from working within the pharmaceuticals industry.
Shkreli, who was released from prison last 12 months, in February was banned “for all times from directly or not directly
participating in any manner within the pharmaceutical industry” because of this of the FTC’s antitrust lawsuit against him and a previous drug company that he founded.
That order stemmed from Manhattan federal court Judge Denise Cote’s ruling that Shkreli oversaw an illegal scheme to take care of a monopoly on the life-saving drug Daraprim, which continued whilst he sat in prison for his conviction in an unrelated securities fraud case.
In its court filing Friday, the FTC noted that Shkreli in July announced the formation of a recent company, Druglike, “that appears to be involved within the drug industry.”
The agency said that motion, in addition to Shkreli’s failure to pay his nearly $25 million share of a $64.6 million judgment he owes within the lawsuit, suggest that he’s violating the court’s orders within the case.
The FTC and a bunch of states that sued Shkreli said within the filing he has did not comply with their requests to present them documents and undergo an interview as a part of their probe into whether his involvement with Druglink violates the February 2022 court order banning him from the industry.
“Martin Shkreli’s failure to comply with the court’s order demonstrates a transparent disregard for the law,” said Holly Vedova, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition, in a press release.
“The FTC is not going to hesitate to deploy the complete scope of its authorities to enable a comprehensive investigation into any potential misconduct,” Vedova said.
Benjamin Brafman, a lawyer for Shkreli, didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
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