Pharma Bro Arrested, Becomes “Ponzi Bro”

Martin Shkreli Charged With Running a Ponzi Scheme

Turing Pharmaceutical’s 32-year-old CEO, and the self-proclaimed “most successful Albanian ever”, Martin Shkreli, first made headlines in September when he raised the price of Daraprim from $13.50 per pill to $750. The country quickly turned against him, he lashed out in the most asinine ways possible -- calling a journalist a “moron” for asking why he hiked the price -- and later, he fell on his sword, promising to lower the price of the medication. But he never did.

Somehow, none of this landed him in any serious legal trouble. Instead, Shkreli was indicted and arrested by the FBI for charges that stem from his work at Retrophin, Inc. from 2012 to 2014. According to Buzzfeed, “Federal prosecutors allege that he lied about the success of the company in order to earn the funds to pay off investors, which resulted in the loss of $11 million.”

U.S. Attorney Robert Capers said in a statement that “Shkreli engaged in multiple schemes to ensnare investors through a web of lies and deceit.”

“His plots were matched only by efforts to conceal the fraud, which led him to operate his companies, including a publicly traded company, as a Ponzi scheme, where he used the assets of the new entity to pay off debts from the old entity,” he said.

Now, we are treated to the schadenfreude of watching Pharma Bro go down for his crimes from years past, ones we hardly even knew happened, and most likely would have never known about if he hadn’t pulled a fast one with Daraprim.

There is still a pending Senate investigation into whether or not Turing is culpable for charges in the price hike, but Shkreli will have probably skated out of the slammer on bail for these current charges and disappeared in Mexico before they reach any real conclusions.

Crime does not pay. Well, unless it’s white collar crime. Then, it pays enough to buy the Wu-Tang Clan’s $2 million dollar album. I hope that while Shkreli is in lockup, the Wu makes good on the contract stipulation to “heist” their album back from Ponzi Bro.

- Vigilant Producer Alex Logan

Should Pharma Bro stand trial for hiking the price of Daraprim as well? Sound off below!

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Written by

Alex Logan

As cohost of the political commentary series, Jesse Ventura's Off the Grid, Alex Logan is The Body's body man. Alex and the former governor, action star, wrestler, and everything else in between, tackle the headlines of the week with an uncensored and independent spirit as we hold the two parties' feet to the fire. A deserter of Dayton, Ohio, Alex graduated from the University of Southern California Film School with a degree in Writing for Screen and TV. Alex has assisted in the booking of live acts for the Creative Artists Agency; written jokes, sketches and stunts for MTV and producer Johnny Knoxville; developed treatments and scripts for Anonymous Content and Mark Gordon Productions; and co-founded the Improv Olympic West’s headliner sketch group, The Mutiny, who play sold out shows around LA and at the Chicago and San Francisco Sketch Fests, as well as producing numerous videos for the front pages of YouTube, College Humor, and Funny Or Die. He did a stint as Editor and Technical Producer on Larry King’s Hulu talk show before partnering with Larry and Jesse to co-create Off the Grid. In the first season, Alex co-headed the entire production, writing, producing, and cohosting over 150 episodes. And he's back for Season Two, now serving as producer and host of a series of Man on the Street field pieces called, On the Grid. He also wrote this professional bio with his own two hands.

The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of Ora Media, LLC its affiliates, or its employees.