AIDS drug mogul Shkreli arrested on fraud charges

Controversial AIDS drug mogul Martin Shkreli – who was formerly a silent partner in Collect Records – has been arrested on fraud charges.

Shkreli hit the headlines earlier this year when he raised the price of Daraprim by 5000% from $13.50 (£8.79) to $750 (£488) a pill. Collect Records boss Geoff Rickly, who is also the frontman with No Devotion, quickly cut all ties with Shkreli and said he was completely “blindsided” by his former partner’s actions.

According to the BBC, the boss of Turing Pharmaceuticals is now accused of running a “Ponzi scheme” at Retrophin, a drug company he previously headed, and hedge fund MSMB Capital Management, where he was a fund manager. FBI prosecutors allege Mr Shkreli cheated Retrophin investors out of $11m (£7.3m).

Announcing the arrest, US Attorney Robert Capers, said: “Shkreli engaged in multiple schemes to ensnare investors through a web of lies and deceit.”

Shkreli said through a lawyer that he expects to be “fully vindicated.”

He was bailed for $5million (£3.3m) and will appear in court at a later date.

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.