A U.S. court granted the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) motion permanently banning Martin Shkreli, former hedge fund manager and drug company CEO, from serving as a director or officer of a public company.
The SEC announced that a judge granted its motion seeking a permanent director and officer ban and and US$1.4 million in civil penalties against Shkreli, who was charged with fraud by the SEC in 2015 stemming from his time as a hedge fund manager and CEO of pharmaceutical company Retrophin Inc.
The regulator’s complaint alleged that Shkreli “misappropriated money from two hedge funds he founded and made material misrepresentations to investors among other misconduct.”
In 2017, Shkreli was convicted criminally on two counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy.
The following year he was sentenced to seven years in prison, fined US$75,000 and ordered to pay US$7.3 million in forfeiture.
In 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it had sold one of Shkreli’s assets seized by the U.S. government — the only copy of an album by the Wu-Tang Clan, entitled “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin” — for an undisclosed price, completing the terms of the forfeiture sentence.
Shkreli remains in federal prison. He is scheduled for release on Nov. 13.