Legal/Law/Criminal Justice and Reform

Federal Regulator, Seven States Ask Judge To Hold Securities Fraudster Martin Shkreli In Contempt

Wikimedia Commons/Public/Joe Gratz

A government agency and bipartisan co-plaintiffs from seven states alleged that financier fraudster Martin Shkreli violated his lifetime ban from the pharmaceutical industry.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and attorneys general from New York, California, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, North Carolina and Virginia — five Democrats and two Republicans — asked a federal judge to hold Shkreli in contempt of court, according to a Tuesday motion filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

“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,” a Tuesday press release from the FTC stated.

“After a full trial, the court found that Martin Shkreli’s conduct drove up prescription drug costs for American patients and blocked the entry of lower-cost generics,” FTC Bureau of Competition director Daniel Guarnera said via the release. “When judgment is entered by a court, whether it’s a settlement or an order following a trial, defendants must fulfill their obligations. Today’s action should serve as notice that the FTC will not hesitate to enforce violations of court orders.”

The motion claims Shkreli is running afoul from his permanent injunction by livestreaming and posting on various social media platforms about trading and investing in biotech.

“It doesn’t matter what trades I make because I can always find a couple of biotech stocks to smoke,” Shkreli said during a July 2025 YouTube livestream.

“A court-ordered lifetime ban isn’t a suggestion,” New York Attorney General Letitia James, who joined the motion, said in a Tuesday statement. “Martin Shkreli has been livestreaming his pharmaceutical company trades for the world to see, in violation of the law. Shkreli’s market manipulation and monopolistic tactics put investors and the public at risk, and we’re going back to court to put a stop to his latest illegal behavior.”

Shkreli did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

While serving as CEO of the now defunct pharmaceutical company Vyera, Shkreli “violated federal and state laws with anticompetitive conduct,” a 135-page court ruling from New York Judge Denise Cote found in 2022.

Cote noted in her ruling that the lifetime ban from any role in the drug industry for Shkreli “is a serious remedy and must be done with care” and “Shkreli’s egregious, deliberate, repetitive, long-running, and ultimately dangerous illegal conduct warrants imposition of an injunction of this scope.”

“Through his tight control of the distribution of Daraprim, Shkreli prevented generic drug companies from getting access to the quantity of Daraprim they needed to conduct testing demanded by the Food and Drug Administration,” the judge wrote at the time.

In 2020, the FTC and James initiated charges against Shkreli, after Vyera raised the list price for the drug from $17.50 to $750 per tablet, a FTC press release at the time said.