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by Our Foreign Desk
PROSECUTORS hauled US vulture capitalist Martin Shkreli before judges on Thursday to face charges that he looted pharmaceutical company Retrophin of $11 million (£7.4m) to pay back disgruntled hedge fund clients.
The former Retrophin chief executive (pictured)gained notoriety in August when his new firm Turing Pharmaceuticals raised the price of the only approved drug for an unusual disease from $13.50 to $750 per pill.
He pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
Retrophin said in a statement: “A new chapter for Retrophin began the day the company replaced Martin Shkreli more than a year ago — and that decision has been vindicated by today’s indictment.
“Upon discovering potential misconduct by Mr Shkreli, we authorised an independent investigation, filed a lawsuit against him, and fully co-operated with the government investigations.
“As the indictment says, Mr Shkreli engaged in ‘a scheme to defraud Retrophin’.”
Turing’s Daraprim drugs treats toxoplasmosis, a rare parasitic disease that strikes pregnant women, cancer patients and Aids patients.
Mr Shkreli defended the price-rise as capitalism at work, but it sparked outrage from medical centres and even presidential hopefuls.
