Credit The Source
They say what goes around comes around. That’s certainly the case for Martin Shkreli, the despised pharmaceutical CEO who came into the spotlight after he raised the price of a life-saving HIV vaccination by 5,000 percent.
Thursday morning, Shkreli and his former lawyer, Evan Greebel, were arrested by the FBI for securities fraud, unrelated to the HIV vaccination, according to multiple reports. The charges stem from Shkreli’s time as founder of biotech firm, Retrophin, and his illegal use of funds from that outfit to pay off debts from his failed hedge fund, MSMB Capital Management. Shkreli founded Retrophin in 2011. Greebel also once worked for Retrophin.
Credit GlaxoSmithKline
In 2014, Shkreli was removed as CEO and resigned from Retrophin, which led to him founding Turing Pharmaceutical. He showed no remorse in raising the price of the HIV drug, Daraprim, from $13.50 a table to $750. The pill only costs $1 to produce.
“I could have raised it higher and made more profits for our shareholders, which is my primary duty,” Shkreli said. “No one wants to say it, no one’s proud of it, but this is a capitalist society, capitalist system and capitalist rules, and my investors expect to me to maximize profits.”
Shkreli also recently spent a reported $2 million on a one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang album, with no plans to share it with the world.
Twitter erupted with the news of his arrest, with many tweeting that it was well-deserved. You’d be hard pressed to find someone who disagrees. Maybe he can use his Wu-Tang album for bail.
