Former drug executive Martin Shkreli calls fraud allegations ‘baseless’

Disgraced pharma magnate Martin Shkreli defaulted to his defense-by-Twitter ways on Saturday to label allegations of fraud lobbed against him as “baseless and without merit”.

Martin Shkreli (C) departs the U.S. Federal Court after an arraignment following him being charged in a federal indictment filed in Brooklyn relating to his management of hedge fund MSMB Capital Management and biopharmaceutical company Retrophin Inc.in New York December 17, …

Shkreli, who resigned as Turing’s chief executive on Friday, has appeared to bask in the attention.

As of Sunday afternoon, the most recent tweet for Shkreli said, “I am now a god”. “Willing to donate hundreds of thousands to charities before I go to prison…” YouTube representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Prosecutors said that between 2009 to 2014 Shkreli lost some of his hedge fund investors’ money through bad trades, then looted a pharmaceutical company where he was CEO for $11 million to pay back his clients. He pleaded not guilty to charges of securities fraud and conspiracy, which carry a sentence of up to 20 years in prison if he’s convicted. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Chair of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions; Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), Chair of the Committee on Energy and Commerce; and Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), Chair of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, seeking an investigation into the unconscionable action of Turing Pharmaceuticals.

Shkreli is best known for raising the price of HIV-drug Heparin from $13.50 to $750 a pill, for which he received worldwide vitriol.