FTC Says “Pharma Bro” Orchestrated Antitrust Scheme From Jail

Convicted “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli carried out an anticompetitive scheme to raise the price of a life-saving drug from jail and those phone conversations must be made available to Federal Trade Commission (FTC) attorneys prosecuting an antitrust case against him, the FTC stated.

Shkreli, who has been in jail since September 2017, was communicating about matters relevant to the antitrust case from federal prison, an FTC attorney wrote in a letter Wednesday, August 12, to US District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Denise Cote.

The FTC and New York sued Shkreli in January for allegedly violating antitrust law when he jacked up the price of a crucial drug by 4,000% overnight in 2015.

The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Manhattan by the FTC and New York Attorney General Letitia James. The complaint names Vyera Pharmaceuticals, formerly known as Turing Pharmaceuticals, along with co-owners Shkreli and Kevin Mulleady.

The allegations are separate from what landed Shkreli behind bars, though the drug at the center of the case is the same. He’s in prison serving a seven-year sentence for defrauding investors in hedge funds he ran by lying to them about his track record and performance as well as a fraud scheme involving Retrophin, a company he founded in 2011.

Full Content: Bloomberg

Want more news? Subscribe to CPI’s free daily newsletter for more headlines and updates on antitrust developments around the world.