Martin Shkreli, the 32-year-old Turing Pharmaceuticals founder and chief executive who raised eyebrows and a lot of tempers earlier this year when he upped the price of the AIDS drug Daraprim from $13.50 to $750 per tablet, was arrested in New York city earlier today. Federal agents are charging him with alleged securities fraud related to a previous firm he founded four years ago, Retrophin. Brooklyn prosecutors say he took company cash and stock to pay off debts from unrelated business dealings. The actual indictment, however, remains sealed.
Today’s arrest adds to Shkreli’s previous woes. He was formerly manager of the MSMB Capital Management hedge fund firm. Last April Retrophin filed a civil lawsuit against him claiming Shkreli took dollars from the company to pay off investors in MSMB when that firm went bust.
In their civil suit Retrophin officials charged that “Shkreli was the paradigm faithless servant. Starting sometime in early 2012 and continuing until he left the company, Shkreli used his control over Retrophin to enrich himself and to pay off claims of MSMB investors (who he had defrauded).”
Newsweek reports that Evan Greebel, who worked as Retrophan’s outside counsel, was also arrested today.