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And he has a cell mate who will like him lots
Price gauging? My spouse needs a medicine that went up 500%. I had to cancel the prescription.
Stupid criminal. He deserves a Darwin Award.
Shkreli, who became known as “Pharma Bro,” created a fire storm last year after his company Turing Pharmaceuticals hiked the price of a drug called Daraprim by more than 5,000 per cent. Last month, Shkreli was forced to step down as Turing CEO amid criminal and civil securities fraud charges alleging he ran a Ponzi-like scheme during his tenure at the hedge fund MSMB Capital Management and while he was the CEO of Retrophin, another drug company he previously headed. The securities fraud charges are unrelated to the drug pricing probe by the committee.
The hearing before the House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will primarily focus on Turing’s price spike of Daraprim, and price hikes for two of Valeant Pharmaceutical’s heart medications – Isuprel and Nitropress. A Democratic committee staffer told Reuters on Friday that Valeant’s Interim CEO Howard Schiller is also expected to appear at the hearing. A Valeant spokeswoman confirmed that Schiller will attend, and said he looks forward to testifying and that the company is cooperating with the ongoing congressional probe. An attorney for Shkreli declined to comment.
Former hedge fund manager Martin Shkreli is escorted by law enforcement agents in New York after being taken into custody following a securities probe. KaloBios, the troubled drugmaker taken over by Shkreli in November, is seeking bankruptcy protection less than two weeks after his arrest on securities fraud.
Earlier this month, House Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz and Ranking Member Elijah Cummings jointly sent document requests to Valeant, Turing and Shkreli. In their requests, the lawmakers asked for documents showing each company’s gross revenues and profits from the sales of the drugs in question, as well as communications by the CEOs in connection with the drugs. Since then, Turing has given tens of thousands of documents to U.S. congressional investigators ahead of the hearing, according to a Democratic committee staffer. A spokeswoman for Turing did not have an immediate comment.
The committee is expected to review another batch of documents from Valeant in the near future. The deadline for submission is Jan. 22. The House Oversight panel’s interest in drug pricing was sparked by Cummings, who for more than a year has called for the Republican-led panel to probe prescription drug pricing. In a statement, Cummings said he is glad there is now bipartisan support for an investigation. He said Americans are “fed up with watching major drug companies rake in record profits while they continue to struggle to afford their medicines.”
U.S. House committee seeks testimony from ‘Pharma Bro’ Shkreli
[/QUOTE]House committee wants to talk with Shkreli...
U.S. House committee seeks testimony from ‘Pharma Bro’ Shkreli
A lawyer for Shkreli informed the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of his intent not to answer questions and asked that he be excused from appearing, committee chairman Jason Chaffetz wrote in the letter dated Wednesday. The plan to remain silent contrasts with Shkreli’s prolific use of social media, where he has been outspoken on Twitter and livestream video even after his indictment last month on criminal charges of securities fraud. The Oversight Committee subpoenaed Shkreli to appear on Tuesday to discuss his decision as chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals to raise the price of a life-saving medicine, Daraprim, by more than 5,000 percent.
Shkreli, 32, has said he would invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. On Twitter, he told followers it was “disgusting and insulting” for lawmakers to try to subvert that right. The Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution says that no person shall be compelled in any criminal case “to be a witness against himself.” The dispute appeared likely to end in one of two ways: with Shkreli appearing in Washington on Tuesday to invoke that right, or with Shkreli staying home in New York, prompting the committee to vote to hold him in contempt and setting off a potential criminal prosecution.
Shkreli resigned as chief executive officer of Turing last month after his arrest on the fraud charges. Turing had acquired Daraprim, a 62-year-old drug, and caused a public furor when it drastically increased the price.[ Fights over congressional testimony are common, especially when potential witnesses are facing criminal prosecution and their testimony could later be used against them.
Some well-known witnesses, such as former IRS official Lois Lerner and former Enron chief financial officer Andrew Fastow, refused to answer questions from Congress but were required to appear in person in front of lawmakers and cameras before invoking that right. It was unclear on Thursday whether Shkreli would make the trip to do the same. His release on bond restricts him to certain parts of New York state, and he is required to ask a judge for a waiver to travel.
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U.S. District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto in Brooklyn, New York modified Shkreli's bail conditions so that he may appear by subpoena before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Shkreli has said he plans to invoke his right against self-incrimination if he attends. The hearing has been rescheduled to Feb. 4 from Jan. 26, following this weekend's snowstorm. Shkreli's $5 million bail package had limited his travel to New York, prompting his lawyers to seek the judge's "guidance" on how their client could comply with the subpoena.
Martin Shkreli (C), chief executive officer of Turing Pharmaceuticals and KaloBios Pharmaceuticals Inc, departs U.S. Federal Court after an arraignment in Brooklyn in New York
In her order, Matsumoto admonished the lawyers that she "does not condone correspondence 'seek[ing] the Court's guidance,'" and that similar requests must be legally supported. Marcus Asner, a lawyer for Shkreli, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Shkreli, 32, stepped down last month as chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals Inc following his arrest for allegedly defrauding investors in two hedge funds he once ran. The House committee has said it wants to hear Shkreli discuss Turing's decision to boost by more than 5,000 percent the price of Daraprim, which has been used for decades to treat a potentially deadly parasitic infection.
Shkreli has achieved a degree of notoriety for defending the price hike, and for a brashness that has included maintaining an active presence online, including on Twitter, even after the criminal charges were announced. While the criminal case is unrelated to Turing, Shkreli's lawyers have expressed concern that letting their client testify may expose him to criminal liability. Citing his lawyers' advice, Shkreli said in an unsworn declaration on Jan. 21 that he will say nothing to Congress "other than to identify myself and then assert the Fifth Amendment Privilege," or the constitutional protection against self-incrimination.
Ex-drug CEO Shkreli gets green light to appear before Congress
Shkreli, 32, sparked outrage last year among patients, medical societies and Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton after his company, Turing Pharmaceuticals, raised the price of the drug Daraprim by more than 5,000 percent to $750 a pill. The lifesaving medicine, used to treat a parasitic infection, once sold for $1 a pill and has been on the market for more than 60 years. At a hearing of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Shkreli repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which says no person shall be compelled in any criminal case "to be a witness against himself." Wearing a sport jacket and collared shirt rather than his usual T-shirt, he responded to questions by laughing, twirling a pencil and yawning.
Martin Shkreli, former CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals LLC, prepares to testify before a House Oversight and Government Reform hearing on 'Developments in the Prescription Drug Market Oversight' on Capitol Hill in Washington
Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, a Utah Republican, asked Shkreli what he would tell a single, pregnant woman with AIDS who needed Daraprim to survive, and whether he thought he had done anything wrong. Shkreli declined to answer. "I intend to follow the advice of my counsel, not yours," said Shkreli after South Carolina Republican Representative Trey Gowdy suggested he could answer questions that were unrelated to pending fraud charges against him. After the hearing, Shkreli's lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, attributed his client's behavior to "nervous energy." Later, though, Shkreli wrote on Twitter: "Hard to accept that these imbeciles represent the people in our government."
U.S. Representative Elijah Cummings, who learned about the tweet while Turing Chief Commercial Officer Nancy Retzlaff was testifying, pounded his fist on the dais. The Maryland Democrat then shouted about an internal Turing document in which a staffer joked about the price increase. "You all spent all of your time strategizing about how to hide your price increase ... and coming up with stupid jokes while other people were sitting there trying to figure out how they were going to survive," Cummings said. Shkreli was arrested in December and charged with running his investment funds and companies almost like a Ponzi scheme. He has pleaded not guilty to the fraud charges, which are not related to the pricing of Daraprim. He also stepped down from Turing and was fired from KaloBios Pharmaceuticals Inc KBIOQ.PK.
Cummings pleaded with Shkreli to reconsider his views about drug pricing: "You can go down as the poster boy for greedy drug company executives, or you can change the system." At one point, Brafman asked to address the committee, but Chaffetz said no. Shkreli was even asked about his purchase of a limited-edition Wu-Tang Clan hip-hop album for $2 million. "Is that the name of the album? The name of the group?" Gowdy asked. After Shkreli again invoked the Fifth Amendment, Gowdy added: "I am stunned that a conversation about an album he purchased could possibly subject him to incrimination." Shkreli was allowed to leave early after he repeated he would not answer questions.
'SUCH CONTEMPT'
Speaking before the Senate Special Committee on Aging, Ackman revealed that Valeant's board will hold a conference call on Thursday to discuss the costs of heart medications Isuprel and Nitropress, as well as Cuprimine and Syprine, two drugs that are used to treat a genetic disorder that causes copper to build up in the body's organs. Valeant raised the price of Isuprel by about 720 percent and Nitropress by 310 percent, after acquiring them in 2015. The other two were raised by 5,878 percent and 3,162 percent, respectively. "My recommendation is going to be to reduce the prices," Ackman testified.
The Senate Special Committee on Aging is one of two U.S. congressional panels investigating sky-rocketing price increases of certain decades-old drugs acquired by companies including Valeant and Turing Pharmaceuticals, a company founded by Martin Shkreli. Ackman, a major Valeant shareholder, appeared Wednesday alongside the company's outgoing Chief Executive Michael Pearson and Howard Schiller, a board member and former chief financial officer. Ackman joined the board last month as Valeant faced mounting scrutiny by members of Congress, prosecutors and regulators over its drug pricing, business practices and accounting - issues that have caused its share price to plummet almost 90 percent since August.
Valeant has about $30 billion of debt and has been negotiating with creditors, some of whom issued notices of default after it missed a deadline for the filing of its financial results. Ackman said Wednesday that one of his top priorities is to protect the company from bankruptcy. Later, in response to a question from Reuters, he expressed confidence that the company will recover. “There is not going to be any bankruptcy of Valeant,” he said. “We were in a death spiral, and we have taken steps to deal with the banks. We are going to file our 10K on time. We brought in a new CEO.”
Pearson, Ackman and Schiller all told lawmakers on Wednesday they regretted Valeant's pricing decisions. "The company was too aggressive and I, as its leader, was too aggressive in pursuing price increases on certain drugs," he said. But many lawmakers on the panel appeared skeptical. They questioned Valeant's business model of investing little in research and development, and the company's practice of acquiring decades-old drugs and raising the prices.
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Valeant said on Monday former Perrigo Co Plc (PRGO.N) head Papa would replace Michael Pearson as its CEO.
Papa will also receive a cash payment of $8 million to make up for the equity-based compensation he forfeited in connection with the termination of his employment with Perrigo.
Valeant said in March Pearson was leaving the company, just three weeks after returning from a two-month medical leave. Pearson's base salary for full-year 2014 was $2 million and his total compensation amounted to $10.3 million, according to a regulatory filing.
Valeant to pay new CEO Papa base salary of $1.5 million
