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Bad-boy ex-pharma CEO Shkreli calls fraud charges ‘baseless’

Associated Press
Martin Shkreli, the former hedge fund manager under fire for buying a pharmaceutical company and ratcheting up the price of a life-saving drug, is escorted by law enforcement agents in New York after being taken into custody following a securities probe. Shkreli has resigned as the head of one of the companies he now runs, Turing Pharmaceuticals, on Friday, Dec. 18, 2015.
Martin Shkreli, the former hedge fund manager under fire for buying a pharmaceutical company and ratcheting up the price of a life-saving drug, is escorted by law enforcement agents in New York after being taken into custody following a securities probe. Shkreli has resigned as the head of one of the companies he now runs, Turing Pharmaceuticals, on Friday, Dec. 18, 2015. Craig Ruttle AP
NEW YORK

Bad-boy ex-pharmaceutical company CEO Martin Shkreli (SHKREL’-ee) says fraud allegations against him are “baseless and without merit.”

Shkreli tweeted Saturday: “I am confident I will prevail.”

The 32-year-old former hedge fund manager pleaded not guilty Thursday in Brooklyn federal court and was released on $5 million bail.

Shkreli was charged with securities fraud and conspiracy. Prosecutors say from 2009 to 2014, Shkreli lost some of his hedge fund investors’ money through bad trades, then looted a pharmaceutical company where he was CEO for $11 million to pay back his disgruntled clients.

Shkreli was already widely reviled because a drug company he founded raised the price of a life-saving drug from $13.50 to $750 per pill. He resigned as the company’s CEO on Friday.

This story was originally published December 19, 2015 at 1:44 PM with the headline "Bad-boy ex-pharma CEO Shkreli calls fraud charges ‘baseless’."

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