Business

Bad-boy ex-pharma CEO Shkreli calls fraud charges 'baseless'

Posted December 19, 2015 6:00 am

The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) - Bad-boy ex-pharmaceutical company CEO Martin Shkreli (SHKREL'-ee) says fraud allegations against him are "baseless and without merit."

Shkreli tweeted Saturday: "I am confident I will prevail."

The 32-year-old former hedge fund manager pleaded not guilty Thursday in Brooklyn federal court and was released on $5 million bail.

Shkreli was charged with securities fraud and conspiracy. Prosecutors say from 2009 to 2014, Shkreli lost some of his hedge fund investors' money through bad trades, then looted a pharmaceutical company where he was CEO for $11 million to pay back his disgruntled clients.

Shkreli was already widely reviled because a drug company he founded raised the price of a life-saving drug from $13.50 to $750 per pill. He resigned as the company's CEO on Friday.

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