Martin Shkreli: The Downward Spiral of Fraud and Greed

Martin Shkreli, former CEO of a pharmaceutical company is known for buying up old drugs and immediately raising the price to consumers by as much as 5,000% overnight. He recently raised the price of one drug that treats a devastating infection in babies and people with AIDS from $13.50/pill to $750/pill. Mr. Shkreli has often spoken out against critics, and has become known as the “bad boy of pharmaceuticals,” portrayed by his excessive greed. On December 17^th, Mr. Shkreli was arrested for securities fraud and wire fraud charges, not because he raised prices so quickly in his current company, Turing Pharmaceuticals, but because of fraud he committed in two prior hedge funds and a previous biopharmaceutical company, Retrophin.

Mr. Shkreli lied to investors for both of his hedge funds while losing millions of dollars. He then paid them off by using funds from Retrophin without consent from the board of directors. Throughout the process, he and a partner fabricated consulting agreements so that external auditors would not be suspicious of the transactions taking place between Retrophin and the investors of the two hedge funds. This article from The New York Times and the video below (posted by the Associated Press) give more information about what Mr. Shkreli did and what he has been charged for.

Bell California City Officials Arrested

This graphic from the NY Times about says it all! This tiny town of about 38,000 people fell victim to a greedy Mayor, City Manager, Police Chief and five other individuals who are alleged to have turned the "city into their personal piggy bank" according to the Times article. The article also explains that the group of eight individuals took high salaries and got illicit loans all in return for attending meetings that lasted a few minutes or were not held. Apparently, Bell (a suburb of LA) is a working class city that is overwhelmingly Hispanic. Most of the residents live below the poverty line. This makes the greed even more tragic as the residents went without needed services or gave up money needed for basic living expenses because these individuals couldn't control their greed. The residents are starting to feel a bit better now that these eight individuals have been arrested. Some won't be happy unless they are all locked up and the key is thrown away. Can you blame them?