Martin Shkreli: I was arrested for hiking drug prices

Martin Shkreli, the pharmaceutical entrepreneur facing US charges of securities fraud, has said he had been the target of legal authorities for his much-criticized drug-price hikes and his over-the-top public persona, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has also charged Shkreli with defrauding investors in MSMB to hide poor investment choices, and of siphoning money from the fund for his own purposes. Shkreli denied wrongdoing. He’s accused of repeatedly losing money for investors and lying to them about it, as well as illegally taking assets from one of his companies to pay off debtors in another.

Shkreli, 32, who is free on $5 million bail, maintains that he is innocent and will be vindicated.

California-based KaloBios Pharmaceuticals said in a statement released on Monday it sacked Shkreli last week.

Shkreli became the chief executive of KaloBios in November after obtaining 70 percent of its outstanding shares.

Mr. Shkreli was arrested last Thursday because of securities fraud.

The price of KaloBios shares dropped dramatically shortly after his arrest – and trading has been halted ever since, according to Bloomberg Business.

Daraprim, sold exclusively through Walgreens under a deal with the Chicago-area pharmacy retailer, is a treatment for toxoplasmosis, a rare parasitic disease that can cause severe brain damage and death in people with compromised immune systems, including those with AIDS.

Retrophin, which fired him more than a year ago when it was first alleged that he misappropriated funds.

The news came on the heels of Shkreli’s resignation Friday, December 18, as boss of Turing Pharmaceuticals, the day after his indictment over allegations of a Ponzi scheme-like fraud conspiracy. He was later ousted from the company, where he’d been CEO, and sued by its board. “Willing to donate hundreds of thousands to charities before I go to prison”, and asking people to re-tweet a message for a chance to win the one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album that he notoriously paid $2 million for. Turing was at the center of the controversy that led to Shkreli’s nationwide infamy as the company purchased the rights to Daraprim and then promptly spiked its price by 5,000%. The company has struggled to develop drugs that treat cancer and leukemia.