FTC wants Martin Shkreli held in contempt over pharmaceutical ban

Jan. 20 (UPI) -- The Federal Trade Commission wants a federal judge to hold Martin Shkreli in contempt for failing to provide the FTC information needed to determine whether his new company violates a ban on pharmaceutical work.

Shkreli was barred for life from the pharmaceutical industry in early 2022 by a federal judge and fined $64.6 million for illegally hiking prices on drugs to treat parasitic diseases.

"Martin Shkreli's failure to comply with the court's order demonstrates a clear disregard for the law," said Holly Vedova, Director of the FTC's Bureau of Competition, in a statement. "The FTC will not hesitate to deploy the full scope of its authorities to enable a comprehensive investigation into any potential misconduct."

When lifetime ban and fines were imposed, Shkreli was already serving a 7-year prison sentence for bilking investors out of $11 million in a Ponzi scheme.

U.S. District Judge Denise Cole imposed the ban finding that Shkreli's conduct was "egregious, deliberate, repetitive, long-running, and ultimately dangerous."

In 2015 Shkreli's company hiked the price on Daraprim from $13.50 to $750 per tablet. That drug is often used by HIV patients and others with compromised immune systems.

The FTC is investigating a new Shkreli company called Druglike, Inc. The company purports to use a decentralized computer network for early stage drug discovery, according to the FTC.

The FTC said in Friday's statement "Shkreli has disregarded the agency's repeated requests for him to provide a compliance report and access to relevant records, and to sit for an interview. In their filing today, the FTC and state enforcers asked the court for an order to show cause why Shkreli should not be held in civil contempt for violating these provisions and to order Shkreli to comply with these information requests within 21 days of the court's decision."