Turing’s reviled Shkreli indicted for securities fraud over “Ponzi-like” scheme [Updated]

$750/pill CEO accused of illegally using assets from former company to pay debts.

Beth Mole – Dec 17, 2015 2:32 pm | 248

Martin Shkreli, chief executive officer of Turing Pharmaceuticals LLC, exits federal court in New York, US, on Thursday, December 17, 2015. Shkreli was arrested on alleged securities fraud related to Retrophin Inc., a biotech firm he founded in 2011. Credit: Louis Lanzano/Bloomberg via Getty Images

In a seven-count indictment unsealed Thursday, Martin Shkreli, the embattled CEO and founder of Turing Pharmaceuticals, has been charged by the FBI with securities fraud, securities fraud conspiracy, and wire fraud conspiracy for allegedly orchestrating three interwoven schemes. In what the Department of Justice terms “Ponzi-like” schemes, Shkreli allegedly defrauded investors of two former hedge funds he managed and misappropriated $11 million in assets from the biopharmaceutical company he once headed, Retrophin, all in the course of about five years.

The charges carry a maximum sentence of 20 years, Robert Capers, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a press conference Thursday.

Also included in the indictment are charges against Evan Greebel, who served as outside counsel for Retrophin. Greebel, who allegedly helped Shkreli pull off the schemes, is charged with wire fraud conspiracy.

In the press conference, Capers and other federal officials laid out how Shkreli allegedly moved around and lost millions of dollars, lied to investors, and used Retrophin as his “personal piggy bank” to pay debts between September 2009 and September 2014.

“Now these charges in today’s indictment highlight the brazenness and the breadth of Shkreli’s schemes and the outrageous web of lies and deceit weaved by both defendants,” Capers said.

According to the indictment, the schemes started in 2009, when Shkreli served as the manager of MSMB Capital, a hedge fund that focused on investments in healthcare. Shkreli and unnamed co-conspirators are accused of lying to investors about many aspects of the fund, including fees, management, Shkreli’s poor track record as a hedge fund manager, plus the fund’s assets. At one point, Shkreli told the top investor that the fund had $35 million in assets, when it in fact had $700.

Based on those alleged lies, Shkreli and company got $3 million from investors. Of that, Shkreli is accused of misappropriating $200,000 and losing the rest in bad trades by the end of 2011. Yet, in September 2012, Shkreli informed investors in an e-mail that he was winding the fund down and that original investors had “just about doubled their money net of fees.”

At this point, Shkreli had $7 million in liability from bad trades.

Meanwhile, Shkreli started managing a second hedge fund, MSMB Healthcare, in about February 2011, which lasted until December 2012. According to the indictment, Shkreli and his co-conspirators told investors that the fund had assets of $55 million, which attracted $5 million from investors. But, at no time did MSMB Healthcare ever have more than $6 million in assets. And, according to the indictment, Shkreli used those funds to help pay debts.

In March of 2011, Shkreli founded Retrophin, a company focused on buying, developing and marketing drugs that treat severe and life-threatening diseases.

Again, Shkreli, now with the help of Greebel, allegedly used assets to cover his debts, swindling more than $11 million from the company. The payouts to Shkreli’s debtors were in part made using settlements that were hidden from Retrophin’s board as well as sham consulting agreements. In those agreements, which cost more than $7.6 million, Shkreli’s investors got money for claiming they had provided legitimate counseling services, even though they provided none to the company.

The board of Retrophin fired Shkreli in 2014 and sued him for breaching his duty of loyalty to the company.

Early this year, Shkreli founded a second pharmaceutical company, Turing Pharmaceuticals, which has a similar mission to Retrophin. As Turing’s CEO, Shkreli gained public notoriety by dramatically hiking the price of the life-saving drug, Daraprim. The decades-old drug is used to treat a parasitic infection and is often given to AIDS patients and babies. Turing’s decision to jack up the price of Daraprim by more than 5,000 percent is being investigated by lawmakers.

Both Shkreli and Greebel are set to be arraigned later today before a federal judge in Brooklyn, New York.