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Martin Shkreli, Disgraced Pharmaceutical CEO, Resigns as Head of Turing After Fraud Arrest

Martin Shkreli
Martin Shkreli

And the fall from grace continues. Martin Shkreli, the controversial pharmaceutical CEO who was arrested on Thursday, December 17, on charges of security fraud, officially resigned from his position as the head of Turing Pharmaceuticals AG on Friday, the company announced.

“We wish to thank Martin for helping us build Turing Pharmaceuticals into the dynamic research focused company it is today, and wish him the best in his future endeavors,” Ron Tilles, the chairman of the company and interim CEO, said in a statement.

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Shkreli, 32, was arrested at his midtown Manhattan apartment in NYC on Thursday morning following accusations that he had essentially funneled funds from his former biopharmaceutical company, Retrophin, to angry investors who had lost money through the hedge fund he also started, MSMB Capital Management.

“Shkreli was the paradigm faithless servant,” Retrophin’s complaint reads, according to The New York Times. “Starting sometime in early 2012, and continuing until he left the company, Shkreli used his control over Retrophin to enrich himself and to pay off claims of MSMB investors (who he had defrauded).”

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The disgraced CEO was arrested and later freed on a $5 million bond, Bloomberg reports. He pleaded not guilty. Evan Greebel, a New York lawyer who was believed to have aided Shkreli in his schemes, was similarly arrested and also pleaded not guilty. He was released on a $1 million bond.

During a Thursday press conference, Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Robert Capers said, “Shkreli essentially ran his company like a Ponzi scheme, where he used each subsequent company to pay off defrauded investors from the prior company.”

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Shkreli first made headlines in September after he raised the price of an AIDS drug, Daraprim, from $13.50 a pill to $750, making him the “most hated man in America,” according to the BBC.

Earlier this year, the pharmaceutical exec also threw down $2 million to buy the only copy of the Wu-Tang Clan’s recent album, Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, angering fans everywhere.

To date, the businessman still hasn’t listened to the coveted album.

“I could be convinced to listen to it earlier if Taylor Swift wants to hear it or something like that,” Shkreli told Bloomberg. “But for now, I think I’m going to kind of save it for a rainy day.”

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