\n<\/p>\n
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and seven US states have alleged that pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli repeatedly violated a lifetime ban on participating in the pharmaceutical industry, and they are asking a judge to hold him in contempt.<\/p>\n
In a motion filed on Tuesday in US district court in New York City, the FTC and its state co-plaintiffs allege that 43-year-old Shkreli \u2013 nicknamed the \u201cPharma Bro\u201d \u2013 has traded stocks in at least 60 pharmaceutical companies and publicly commented on their businesses since his release from prison in May 2022.<\/p>\n
Conditions related to Shkreli\u2019s release prohibit him from directly or indirectly participating in the pharmaceutical industry, including owning stakes in pharmaceutical companies or influencing their business decisions.<\/p>\n
The FTC alleges that Shkreli publicized his activities through live streams and posts on the YouTube, X and Reddit platforms. During one live stream, he told viewers: \u201cI\u2019m showing you how to trade and invest in biotech,\u201d according to the FTC.<\/p>\n
In another live stream, Shkreli allegedly revealed what he described as his \u201cmagic trick\u201d, saying: \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter what trades I make because I can always find a couple of biotech stocks to smoke.\u201d<\/p>\n
The FTC also alleges Shkreli used his live streams to organize public campaigns to short pharmaceutical stocks based on predictions that companies\u2019 clinical trials would fail.<\/p>\n
For those \u201cbrazen violations\u201d, the FTC\u2019s court filing said: \u201cShkreli should be held in civil contempt and face sanctions to purge his current contempt and to coerce his future compliance.\u201d<\/p>\n
The court filing said that should include, but not be limited to, \u201ca complete accounting of his pharmaceutical company stock trades, divestment of any ownership in any pharmaceutical company, a monetary fine in the amount of Shkreli\u2019s profits made through his contumacious conduct, and clear and escalating consequences \u2013 including additional fines and incarceration \u2013 for any future violations\u201d.<\/p>\n
Shkreli\u2019s pharmaceutical industry ban stems from a 2022 ruling that found he had conducted an illegal anticompetitive scheme to raise the price of Daraprim \u2013 a drug used to treat malaria, certain cancers and toxoplasmosis \u2013 by more than 5,000%, from $17.50 to $750 per tablet.<\/p>\n
That same year, a US court fined Shkreli $64.6m, describing his conduct as \u201cegregious, deliberate, repetitive, long-running and ultimately dangerous [and] illegal\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cDefendants must fulfill their obligations\u201d when a court issues an order, the FTC competition bureau director, Daniel Guarnera, said on Tuesday. He added that Tuesday\u2019s filing against Shkreli \u201cshould serve as notice that the FTC will not hesitate to enforce violations of court orders\u201d.<\/p>\n
Similarly, the New York attorney general, Letitia James, said of Shkreli: \u201cA court-ordered lifetime ban isn\u2019t a suggestion. Martin Shkreli has been livestreaming his pharmaceutical company trades for the world to see, in violation of the law.<\/p>\n
\u201cShkreli\u2019s market manipulation and monopolistic tactics put investors and the public at risk, and we\u2019re going back to court to put a stop to his latest illegal behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Guardian has approached Shkreli for comment.<\/p>\n
Shkreli in 2018 was sentenced to seven years in prison after being found guilty of two counts of securities fraud and one count of securities fraud conspiracy. He became a symbol of corporate greed before being released from prison early.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and seven US states have alleged that pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli repeatedly violated a lifetime ban on participating in the pharmaceutical industry, and they are asking a judge to hold him in contempt. In a motion filed on Tuesday in US district court in New York City, the FTC and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52454,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[163,15548,1764,3500,9160,571,3002,25384,1561],"class_list":{"0":"post-52453","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-crime-justice","8":"tag-ban","9":"tag-contempt","10":"tag-ftc","11":"tag-martin","12":"tag-pharma","13":"tag-ruling","14":"tag-seek","15":"tag-shkreli","16":"tag-states"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=52453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52453\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/52454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=52453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=52453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=52453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}