‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli has caught the attention of federal and state authorities again

Federal and state authorities are asking a judge to hold Martin Shkreli in contempt, accusing him of defying a court order that bars him from the pharmaceutical industry. The Federal Trade Commission and attorneys general from seven states say he has trading and posting habits that amount to repeated, flagrant violations. They want him fined an amount equal to his total trading profits and, if he continues, possibly jailed, according to CNN.

Shkreli was freed from prison in May 2022 after a 2018 securities fraud conviction and a seven-year sentence. A separate civil case, filed in 2020 over a 4,000% overnight increase in the price of the drug Daraprim to $750 per pill, ended in January 2022 with a liability finding, a $64. 6 million payment order and the industry ban. Authorities say he soon began livestreaming trades and organized a competition covering at least 11 pharmaceutical stocks. They also say he bet against Cassava Sciences, insisted on X that its clinical study could not work, and boasted after the company announced failure four days later. Prosecutors suggest he holds other accounts, and that his sister and her partner may have helped him, so they want evidence preserved.

Summarized by PolitiKool from CNN’s reporting. Read the full story at CNN →