Dive Brief:
- Martin Shkreli, infamous for aggressively hiking the price of an old drug while CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, will go on trial in June 2017 to face the U.S. government's charges of securities fraud, reports Reuters.
- U.S. district court judge Kiyo Matsumoto scheduled Shkreli's trial to begin on June 26, 2017, Reuters said.
- For now, Shkreli will be tried along with former lawyer Evan Greebel, who worked for Retrophin Inc., a company which Shkreli ran until 2014. Prosecutors allege Shkreli defrauded investors while CEO of Retrophin.
Dive Insight:
When Shkreli was arrested in December, Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Robert Capers said Shkreli's actions essentially amounted to a Ponzi scheme. Capers alleged the two had used Retrophin funds to pay back debts incurred while at the hedge fund MSMB Capital.
After his arrest, Shkreli resigned as CEO of Turing and was ousted from another company, KaloBios Pharmaceuticals, where he also served as chief executive.
The subsequent turmoil and notoriety brought on both companies led to Congressional scrutiny of Turing's business practices and helped push KaloBios into bankruptcy. (KaloBios subsequently secured new financing and emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this month.)
Shkreli has pleaded not guilty to charges of securities fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud and vigorously maintains his innocence on Twitter.
I am confident I will prevail. The allegations against me are baseless and without merit.
— Martin Shkreli (@MartinShkreli) December 19, 2015