The US Supreme Court rejects the appeal of former pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli
Written by Jonathan Stempel
(Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear former pharmaceutical company CEO Martin Shkreli's challenge to a $64.6 million fine imposed by a judge after he raised the price of a life-saving drug by more than 4,000 percent.
The justices rejected Shkreli's request for a lower court ruling upholding the sentence, which equals the profits he and one of his former companies made by raising the price of the drug Daraprim in 2015, which was set for 2022 by US District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan.
Shkreli's appeal did not challenge the lifetime ban from the drug industry imposed by Cote.
The judge cited Shkreli's “particularly callous and coercive” tactics in controlling Daraprim and keeping generic competitors off the market. Cote filed for sanctions in a civil antitrust lawsuit brought by the US 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 ruling by the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan, which upheld a $64.6 million fine and industry ban.
“While we are disappointed in this situation, we also think it is only a matter of time before the Supreme Court reverses the 2nd Circuit's approach” on the type of sentence Shkreli was ordered to pay, his attorney Thomas Huff said in an email.
Shkreli may be able to appeal the sentence again if a future Supreme Court decision creates a more favorable legal precedent for him, Huff added.
Now 41 years old, Shkreli became famous when, as CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, he raised the price of Daraprim overnight to $750 per tablet from $17.50. Daraprim is used to treat a disease called toxoplasmosis, including in people with AIDS.
Shkreli later served more than four years in prison after being convicted in 2017 of defrauding investors at two hedge funds and conspiring to defraud investors at another drug producer.
He contested his appeal to the Supreme Court saying that he should not have to pay the full amount of $64.6 million. Shkreli said it's unfair to give up profits he never earned or controlled, and that two other federal appeals courts have limited the defendants' liability to personal profits.
The states argued that the appeal to the Supreme Court was a “poor vehicle” to review Shkreli's revoked benefits because lower courts had never addressed the issue.
Since his release from prison in May 2022, Shkreli has worked as a software engineer and as a legal office consultant.
He is being sued separately by digital arts group PleasrDAO for allegedly streaming a one-of-a-kind album by hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan. PleasrDAO bought the album after the US government took Shkreli on his criminal case.
