The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday heard former pharmaceutical CEO Martin Shkreli's challenge to a $64.6 million fine imposed by a judge after he raised the price of a life-saving drug by more than 4,000%. was rejected.
The justices rejected Shkreli's appeal of a lower court ruling in 2015 that upheld a penalty equal to the profits he and one of his former companies made by jacking up the price of the drug Daraprim. Mr. Shkreli, then in his early 30s, was given the nickname. “Pharma Bro” in the media. His sentence had been imposed in 2022 by U.S. District Judge Dennis Cote in Manhattan.
Shkreli's appeal did not challenge his lifetime ban from the pharmaceutical industry, which was also imposed by the court.
The judge cited Mr. Shkreli's “particularly ruthless and high-handed” tactics in monopolizing Daraprim and keeping generic competitors out of the market. Cote imposed the sanctions in a civil antitrust case brought by the Federal Trade Commission along with New York, California, Illinois, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
Mr. Shkreli asked the Supreme Court to review a January ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan that upheld a $64.6 million fine and a ban on the industry.
“While we are disappointed in the disposition, we also believe it is only a matter of time before the Supreme Court overturns the Second Circuit's unusual approach,” his attorney, Thomas Huff, said in an email.
Huff added that if a future Supreme Court ruling creates a more favorable precedent for Shkreli, Shkreli may be able to challenge his sentence again.
Mr. Shkreli, now 41, gained notoriety as chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals for raising the price of Daraprim from $17.50 to $750 per pill overnight.
Daraprim is used to treat a parasitic infection called toxoplasmosis, including in people with AIDS.
Shkreli was convicted in 2017 of defrauding investors at two hedge funds and conspiring to defraud investors at another pharmaceutical company, and was later sentenced to more than four years in prison.
He argued in his Supreme Court appeal that he should not be paid the full $64.6 million.
Shkreli said it was unfair to give up benefits he never personally received or controlled, and two other federal appeals courts have limited defendants' liability for personal benefits. Ta.
The states countered that an appeal to the Supreme Court was an “inadequate means” to reconsider Shkreli's forfeiture profits because the lower courts never took up the issue.
Since his release in May 2022, Shkreli has worked as a software developer and as a consultant for a law firm.
Separately, he is being sued by digital art collective PleasrDAO for allegedly streaming a unique album by hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan. PleasrDAO purchased the album after the government seized it in Shkreli's criminal case.
