The guy who made HIV/AIDS drug so expensive is going to jail

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December 17, 2015 3:55 PM

Pharmaceutical CEO Martin Shkreli, known all over the world as the guy who jacked up the price of a drug used to treat AIDS patients, now faces federal criminal charges.

The guy who made HIV/AIDS drug so expensive is going to jail

Pharmaceutical CEO Martin Shkreli, known as the guy who jacked up the price of a drug used to treat AIDS patients, now faces federal criminal charges.

Popularly referred to as the 'most hated man in America', Bloomberg and Reuters reported that Shkreli was arrested Thursday at his home in New York.

Although, the charge is unrelated to his company Turing Pharmaceuticals, instead the federal case centers on his time as CEO of Retrophin (RTRX), another biotech company that sacked him last year.

Retrophin sued Shkreli in federal court, seeking $65 million from him, accusing him of misusing the company's cash and stock. CNN money reported.

He has denied those charges.

In Retrophin's lawsuit against Shkreli, it charged he used Retrophin's assets, including shares of its stock, "to enrich himself, and to pay off claims of MSMB investors (who he had defrauded)." The suit says that the Securities and Exchange Commission opened an investigation into MSMB and Shkreli in 2012.

The drug price hike instituted by Shkreli at Turing brought widespread criticism in the media, which dubbed him "the most hated man in America," as well as by politicians.

CNN reported that the details of the charges are to be disclosed at a noon press conference by Robert Capers, the U.S. Attorney in Brooklyn.

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