If you have followed the news about Martin Shkreli, you may have heard that he is to go to trial for allegations of securities fraud. You may already be familiar with some of the things he’s done in the past, like having an account banned on Twitter for badgering a journalist or hiking the prices of life-saving drugs just to make a profit.
Now, he’s facing securities fraud charges because the prosecution claims he had been tricking investors who were interested in his hedge fund. In December 2015, the man was arrested for crime alleged to have occurred between October 2009 and March 2014.
He had a pair of hedge funds in those years, and prosecutors claim he committed frauds while managing their funds. It’s claimed he omitted important information, misrepresented the funds and took money from one fund to cover claims against the other. He also made payments from his pharmaceutical company, Retrophin, to cover payments to investors who had threatened to sue. The payments were misrepresented as having been from consulting services.
The man had allegedly lied about the performance and size of MSBM Capital Management, one of the funds, stating that the returns were at 35.77 percent. The truth was that it had lost 18 percent since the start. He also lied about the fund’s ability to settle a short sale, according to one claim, which ended up costing the broker $7 million.
In this case, everyone has been repaid and all wrongdoing was made right before this trial. Despite that, the prosecution continues to assert that the man has committed fraud and will take him to trial. If your case is similar, a strong defense may help you show that you’ve done all you can to right your wrongs and that a heavy sentence is unnecessary.
Source: WAMU 88.5, “‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli Goes On Trial On Securities Fraud Charges,” Laurel Wamsley, June 26, 2017