US Supreme Court rejects 'Pharma Bro' Martin Shkreli's appeal of penalties
Shkreli appeal did not contest lifetime drug industry ban
Antitrust case was brought by federal agency, seven states
Adds background in paragraphs 3-13
By Jonathan Stempel
Oct 7 (Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear former pharmaceutical company CEO Martin Shkreli's challenge to a $64.6 million financial penalty imposed by a judge after he raised a lifesaving drug's price by more than 4,000%.
The justices turned away Shkreli's appeal of a lower court's decision upholding the penalty, equal to the profits he and one of his former companies made by raising the price of the drug Daraprim in 2015. Shkreli, then in his early 30s, was given the nickname "Pharma Bro" in the media. His penalty had been imposed in 2022 by U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan.
Shkreli's appeal did not challenge a lifetime ban from the drug industry also imposed by Cote.
The judge cited Shkreli's "particularly heartless and coercive" tactics in monopolizing Daraprim and keeping generic rivals off the market. Cote imposed the sanctions in a civil antitrust case brought by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, along with the states of New York, California, Illinois, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
Shkreli asked the Supreme Court to review a January decision by 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan, which upheld the $64.6 million penalty as well as the industry ban.
Now 41, Shkreli gained notoriety when, as chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals, he raised Daraprim's price overnight to $750 per tablet from $17.50.
Daraprim is used to treat a parasitic infection called toxoplasmosis, including in people with AIDS.
Shkreli later served more than four years in prison after being convicted in 2017 for defrauding investors in two hedge funds and scheming to defraud investors in another drugmaker.
He argued in his Supreme Court appeal that he should not owe the entire $64.6 million.
Shkreli said it was unfair to give up profits he never personally received or controlled, and that two other federal appeals courts have limited the liability of defendants in personal gains.
The states countered that the appeal to the Supreme Court was a "poor vehicle" to review Shkreli's disgorged profits because lower courts never addressed the issue.
Since his May 2022 release from prison, Shkreli has worked as a software developer and as a consultant for a law office.
He has separately been sued by the digital art collective PleasrDAO for having allegedly streamed a one-of-a-kind album by the hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan. PleasrDAO bought the album after the U.S. government seized it from Shkreli in his criminal case.
Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Will Dunham
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Penafian: Entiti XM Group menyediakan perkhidmatan pelaksanaan sahaja dan akses ke Kemudahan Dagangan Atas Talian, yang membolehkan sesorang melihat dan/atau menggunakan kandungan yang ada di dalam atau melalui laman web, tidak bertujuan untuk mengubah atau memperluas, juga tidak mengubah atau mengembangkannya. Akses dan penggunaan tersebut tertakluk kepada: (i) Terma dan Syarat; (ii) Amaran Risiko; dan Penafian Penuh. Oleh itu, kandungan sedemikian disediakan tidak lebih dari sekadar maklumat umum. Terutamanya, perlu diketahui bahawa kandungan Kemudahan Dagangan Atas Talian bukan permintaan, atau tawaran untuk melakukan transaksi dalam pasaran kewangan. Berdagang dalam mana-mana pasaran kewangan melibatkan tahap risiko yang besar terhadap modal anda.
Semua bahan yang diterbitkan di Kemudahan Dagangan Atas Talian kami bertujuan hanya untuk tujuan pendidikan/maklumat dan tidak mengandungi – dan tidak boleh dianggap mengandungi nasihat kewangan, cukai pelaburan atau dagangan dan cadangan, atau rekod harga dagangan kami, atau tawaran, atau permintaan untuk suatu transaksi dalam sebarang instrumen kewangan atau promosi kewangan yang tidak diminta kepada anda.
Sebarang kandungan pihak ketiga serta kandungan yang disediakan oleh XM, seperti pendapat, berita, penyelidikan, analisis, harga, maklumat lain atau pautan ke laman web pihak ketiga yang terdapat dalam laman web ini disediakan berdasarkan "seadanya" sebagai ulasan pasaran umum dan bukanlah nasihat pelaburan. Sesuai dengan apa-apa kandungan yang ditafsir sebagai penyelidikan pelaburan, anda mestilah ambil perhatian dan menerima bahawa kandungan tersebut tidak bertujuan dan tidak sediakan berdasarkan keperluan undang-undang yang direka untuk mempromosikan penyelidikan pelaburan bebas dan oleh itu, ia dianggap sebagai komunikasi pemasaran di bawah peraturan dan undang-undang yang berkaitan. SIla pastikan bahawa anda telah membaca dan memahami Notifikasi mengenai Penyelidikan Pelaburan Bukan Bebas dan Amaran Risiko mengenai maklumat di atas yang boleh diakses di sini.
