Martin Shkreli Heads Back To Court, Faces New Federal Indictment

Martin Shkreli, the pharmaceutical executive who infamously price-gouged AIDS patients, found himself in federal court again today where federal prosecutors made it clear that Shkreli might face additional criminal charges stemming from an earlier venture with pharmaceutical company Retrophin.

“I think today was a good day for Martin Shkreli,” said his attorney Ben Brafman after federal prosecutors suggested they could slap Shkreli with an additional indictment.

According to CNN Money, Martin Shkreli was previously charged with fraud for allegedly siphoning funds from one of his companies to pay off another company’s debts, and according to the new allegations, in the process Shkreli may have defrauded the pharmaceutical company Retrophin, where he previously served as CEO.

Prosecutor: Shkreli may be slapped with more charges, including securities fraud https://t.co/i0eEsfNPN7

— Karwani Nyakairu Jr. (@akn) May 3, 2016

“He ran his companies like a Ponzi scheme,” said U.S. Attorney Robert Capers, addressing the earlier fraud charges against Shkreli.

During today’s hearing in the U.S. District Court federal prosecutors made it clear that Martin Shkreli might face additional federal charges, including securities fraud. Still, Shkreli’s attorney, Ben Brafman, remains confident that the additional indictment won’t be much trouble for his client.

“We don’t believe the indictment will change in any way or affect Mr. Shkreli in any way. I don’t want to talk about an indictment that I have not seen,” said Ben Brafman, defense attorney for Martin Shkreli.

According to the Wall Street Journal, federal prosecutors will decide whether or not to file additional charges against Shkreli within the month.

The previous fraud charges against Martin Shkreli, and co-defendant Evan Greebel, were filed in December, 2015, alleging that the two men were involved in a scheme to defraud investors by covering losses with funds from other companies – including Retrophin. The charges against Martin Shkreli in particular came just after news broke that he had — acting as the CEO of pharmaceutical company Turing Pharmaceuticals — radically increased the price of a drug used to treat toxoplasmosis, from around $13 a pill to around $750 a pill.

Shkreli faced enormous backlash for the move, leading to his vilification in the press and on social media. Shortly after the daraprim scandal, the spotlight moved from Shkreli’s legal — but much-criticized — price-gouging to his other legal troubles, a federal investigation over his alleged involvement in defrauding another pharmaceutical company he headed up, Retrophin.

According to prosecutors, Martin Shkreli and co-defendant Evan Greebel allegedly defrauded Retrophin to the tune of around $11 million, using profits from the pharmaceutical company to pay off debts from Shkreli’s hedge funds, as well as some personal expenses. The federal prosecutors further allege that Shkreli and Greebel attempted to cover up the suspicious financial activity when auditors started investigating Retrophin’s finances.

Martin Shkreli may have become one of the most hated men in America due to price-gouging AIDS patients by increasing the price of the drug daraprim, according to the New York Post, but his federal charges are completely unrelated.

“Substantively, we do not believe that this indictment will change in any way that affects Mr. Shkreli in a negative fashion and we still believe that the charges in this case are very defensible,” said Shkreli’s attorney, Ben Brafman.

Martin Shkreli has continued to anger people by playing into his image as a “pharma bro” — at one point purchasing a $2 million Wu-Tang Clan album for the express purpose of “keeping it from people.” Additionally, earlier this year, Martin Shkreli offered $10 million to Kanye West for exclusive access to his latest album The Life of Pablo, as the Inquisitr reported previously.

Shkreli has a habit of engaging his critics in the press and on social media, arguing back and forth with his detractors in a way that his defense team continually advises against.

[Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images]