Office of the
Illinois Attorney General
Kwame Raoul

Chicago – Attorney General Kwame Raoul today joined a coalition of seven states and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in asking a federal judge to hold Martin Shkreli in contempt for his alleged flagrant and repeated violations of a 2022 court order that banned him from the pharmaceutical industry. Shkreli was previously convicted for engaging in illegal and monopolistic behavior as the CEO of Vyera Pharmaceuticals.

In a motion and brief filed today, Raoul and the coalition allege that Shkreli, since his release from prison in May 2022, has been violating the court order by publicly trading in pharmaceutical industry stocks and broadcasting his opinions about the business and management of many pharmaceutical industry companies.

“Martin Shkreli’s egregious anticompetitive practices that prevented patients from being able to access lifesaving medications led a court to ban him from ever participating in the pharmaceutical industry,” Raoul said. “Today, we allege that Shkreli is back to his old ways, defying a court order and publicly broadcasting campaigns relating to pharmaceutical company stocks. I will continue to hold any individual accountable who manipulates the markets for their own personal financial gain at the expense of patients.”

In August 2015, Vyera acquired Daraprim and increased the price dramatically overnight from $17.50 per pill to $750 per pill. At the time of Shkreli’s scheme, Daraprim was the only FDA-approved drug for the treatment of toxoplasmosis, a parasitic disease that poses serious and often life-threating consequences for those with compromised immune systems, such as babies born to women infected with the disease and individuals with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). 

Under Shkreli’s direction, Vyera then engaged in anticompetitive conduct to delay and impede generic competition. The high price and distribution changes Shkreli made limited access to the drug, forcing many patients and physicians to make difficult and risky decisions for the treatment of a life-threatening disease. In April 2020, Raoul’s office joined a lawsuit with the FTC and six other attorneys general, filed against Vyera, its parent Phoenixus AG, Shkreli, and his business partner, Kevin Mulleady, alleging the defendants executed an elaborate scheme for stifling competition to protect the exorbitant, monopolistic pricing of the drug Daraprim. 

Today’s joint motion alleges numerous examples of Shkreli violating the order’s lifetime ban from the pharmaceutical industry by publicly trading in stocks of at least 60 companies and broadcasting online his opinions about the business and management of many pharmaceutical companies. These activities run afoul of the court’s 2022 permanent injunction, which banned Shkreli from directly or indirectly participating in any manner in the pharmaceutical industry, including by acquiring or holding “an Ownership Interest in a Pharmaceutical Company” or taking “any action to directly or indirectly influence or control the management or business of any Pharmaceutical Company,” according to the joint motion.

Shkreli has publicized his order violations by livestreaming and posting on numerous social media platforms, including YouTube, X, and Reddit. The motion alleges that, while livestreaming his trades in pharmaceutical industry stocks, Shkreli told his viewers, “I’m showing you how to trade and invest in biotech.” As alleged in the motion, Shkreli used his livestreams to wage multiple public campaigns to short certain pharmaceutical company stocks based on his prediction that their key clinical trials would fail. 

In their contempt filing, Raoul and the coalition ask the court for an order to show cause why Shkreli should not be held in civil contempt for violating the lifetime ban imposed by the court and ultimately to issue civil sanctions to force Shkreli to comply with the terms of the court’s 2022 injunction. Sanctions sought in the contempt filing seek to require Shkreli to divest any pharmaceutical company stocks he currently owns, pay a fine equal to his profits from any pharmaceutical company stock trading (plus prejudgment interest) without the ability to account for offsetting losses, and face clear and escalating consequences for any future violations, including financial penalties and potential incarceration.

Joining Raoul and the FTC in filing today’s motion and brief are the attorneys general of California, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.