Left: NEW YORK, NY – AUGUST 04: Martin Shkreli, former chief executive officer of Turing Pharmaceuticals AG, center, pauses while speak to members of the media outside federal court in the Brooklyn borough of New York, U.S., on Friday, Aug. 4, 2017 (People: Martin Shkreli Transmission Ref: MNC1 Hoo-Me.com / MediaPunch/IPX). Right: FILE – New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks during a press briefing, Feb. 16, 2024, in New York (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File).
The disgraced former CEO derisively known as “Pharma Bro” will not get to plead his case before the nation’s highest court.
Listed among dozens of pages of single-line orders issued Monday was the U.S. Supreme Court’s denial of Martin Shkreli‘s appeal of a lower court ruling banning him for life from the pharmaceutical industry and ordering him to pay $64.6 million. As Law&Crime has previously reported, Shkreli — a convicted felon who served over five years in prison for defrauding hedge fund investors — became a household name after inflating the price of AIDS drug Daraprim by 5,000%. At the time, Daraprim was the only FDA-approved drug for the treatment of toxoplasmosis, a parasitic disease that poses serious and often life-threatening consequences for those with compromised immune systems, including babies born to women infected with the disease and individuals with HIV.
“The high price and distribution changes Shkreli made limited access to the drug, forcing many patients and physicians to make difficult and risky decisions for the treatment of a life-threatening disease,” James said in the statement.
In 2022, the federal District Court for the Southern District of New York issued the ban and the fine, which was later upheld by the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement Monday that Shkreli should not be able to avoid responsibility.
“Martin Shkreli tried to profit off of vulnerable people by jacking up lifesaving medicine to ludicrous prices and preventing cheaper generic drugs from launching,” James said in the statement. “His selfishness had consequences, and that is why I joined with the FTC and my fellow attorneys general to hold Shkreli accountable and to stop his outrageous actions.”
James added that the legal win “reinforces how our state’s tough anti-fraud laws help protect New Yorkers and ensure bad actors cannot abuse their power, wealth, or influence.”
Shkreli’s legal issues are note yet over, however. He allegedly made copies of a rare Wu-Tang album that he sold in order to satisfy a $7.4 million forfeiture order and played it on a livestream, in contravention of rules regarding the album’s sale and was threatened with a contempt charge.
“Yeah, that’s the Wu-Tang album for all you crazy streamer people,” he allegedly said during a June 18, 2022, livestream of the album — one of three alleged instances of sharing the highly-prized album with the public.
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