'Pharma Bro' Martin Shkreli Cannot Return To Drug Industry Ever: Court Upholds Lifetime Ban

Recently, the lifetime ban on Martin Shkreli, the notorious former pharmaceutical executive, has been upheld by a federal appeals court.

What Happened: The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan upheld the decision on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The ban was imposed due to Shkreli’s antitrust violations, leading to a $64.6 million repayment order.

The ban was initially imposed in January 2022 by U.S. District Judge Denise Cote, who cited Shkreli’s “particularly heartless and coercive” tactics in monopolizing the antiparasitic drug Daraprim and preventing generic rivals from entering the market.

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Shkreli, also known as “Pharma Bro,” gained notoriety in 2015 when, as the CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, he hiked the price of Daraprim from $17.50 to $750 per tablet. He was later convicted of defrauding investors and served over four years in prison.

In response to the upheld ban, Shkreli’s lawyer, Kimo Peluso, suggested a possible further appeal. Since his release from prison in May 2022, Shkreli has worked as a software developer and consultant for a law office.

Why It Matters: Shkreli’s name has been a constant in the news for various reasons. In 2022, he made headlines by claiming that former criminal cartel leader Paul Le Roux was the creator of Bitcoin. This claim was made in a Substack post in which Shkreli stated that he had decrypted the first-ever Bitcoin transfer.

More recently, Shkreli expressed empathy for another controversial figure in the crypto world, Sam Bankman-Fried, following Bankman-Fried’s guilty verdict in a criminal trial. Shkreli’s reaction to the verdict stirred discussions in the crypto community.

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Image by House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform via Wikimedia