Drug CEO Who Raised Pill Prices 5500 Percent Also Accused of Harassment

Drug CEO Martin Shkreli is accused of harassment by a former employee.

Image via CNBC

Martin Shkreli is facing a firestorm of controversy this week when it was revealed that he raised prices of the drug Daraprim, which is used to treat a parasitic infection, from $13.50 to $750 per pill—a 5,500 percent increase. Now, CNBC is reporting that the drug CEO was also accused of harassment by a former employee.

Before Turing Pharmaceuticals, the 32-year-old owned another pharmaceutical company called Retrophin. He reportedly blamed ex-employee Timothy Pierotti for defrauding his company, and hacked into Pierotti’s social media accounts to send negative messages to him and his relatives. According to court documents, Shkreli wrote this message to his wife in January 2013:

Your husband had stolen $1.6 million from me and I will get it back. I will go to any length necessary to get it back. Your pathetic excuse of a husband needs to get a real job that does not depend on fraud to succeed ... I hope to see you and your four children homeless and will do whatever I can to assure this.

Pierotti filed a report with New Jersey police and Shkreli eventually settled out of court in 2014 after a New York Judge ordered him to turn over his computers to be analyzed. Shkreli later resigned from his position as CEO when Retrophin's board moved to replace him.

He declined to comment the case but, according to TechCrunch, the CEO has plenty to say about his most recent controversy on Twitter. The tech news site reports that he sent out more than 125 tweets to the “haters” calling him and his company out. Unfortunately, his tweets are protected so we can’t confirm the validity of the accusations. Screencaps, anyone?

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