In September 2015, Shkreli was widely criticized when Turing obtained the manufacturing license for the antiparasitic drug Daraprim and raised its price to insurance companies from $13.50 to $750.00 (USD) per pill.

[15][19] In 2007, Lehman Brothers sued Elea in New York state court for failing to cover a 'put option transaction' in which Shkreli bet the wrong way on a broad market decline.

[27] Matthew Herper of Forbes wrote that the attempted hostile takeover was "done for the specific purpose of firing the company's management and stopping a proposed merger with Allos Therapeutics.

"[28] Shkreli founded Retrophin (a portmanteau of "Recombinant dystrophin") in 2011 under the MSMB umbrella and ran it as a portfolio company with an emphasis on biotechnology, to create treatments for rare diseases.

[35] During Shkreli's tenure as CEO, the company's employees used alias Twitter accounts to make gangster rap jokes and encourage short selling of other biotech stocks.

[51] Shkreli set a business strategy for Turing: To obtain licenses on out-of-patent medicines, and reevaluate the pricing of each in pursuit of windfall profits for the new company, without the need to develop and bring its own drugs to market.

[52][53] As markets for out-of-patent drugs are often small, and obtaining regulatory approval to manufacture a generic version is expensive, Turing calculated that with closed distribution for the product and no competition, it could set high prices.

[52] On August 10, 2015, in accordance with Shkreli's business plan, Turing acquired Daraprim (pyrimethamine), a medication approved by the FDA in 1953,[54] from Impax Laboratories[55] for US$55 million.

"[15] On September 17, 2015, Dave Muoio of Healio, an in-depth clinical information website for health care specialists,[61] reported on a letter from the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the HIV Medicine Association to executives at Turing,[62] questioning a new pricing for Daraprim.

[59] Baum said, "This is not the first time a sole supply generic drug – especially one that has been approved for use as long as Daraprim – has had its price increased suddenly and to a level that may make it unaffordable."

[80] On November 23, 2015, Turing announced that the company would not reduce the list price of Daraprim, but said it planned instead to negotiate volume discounts of up to 50% for hospitals.

"[84] Using a contraband cellphone from his prison ward in Fort Dix, New Jersey, Shkreli was effectively directing the renamed firm, and was reported to have terminated the employment of executive Kevin P.

[88] In January 2020 the FTC filed a case against Vyera "alleging an elaborate anticompetitive scheme to preserve a monopoly for the life-saving drug, Daraprim".

"[91] In November 2015, an investor group led by Shkreli acquired a majority stake in KaloBios Pharmaceuticals (OTC Pink Limited: KBIOQ), a biopharmaceutical company based in South San Francisco, California.

[citation needed] Following his release from prison, in 2022, a planned software platform named Druglike controlled by Shkreli was announced with a stated aim of supporting the development of new pharmaceutical drugs.

[98] Shkreli was subpoenaed to appear before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the U.S. House of Representatives to answer questions about the Daraprim price increase.

[99] On February 4, 2016, Shkreli appeared before the House committee,[100] along with Nancy Retzlaff,[101] the Chief Commercial Officer of Turing, and Howard B. Schiller, the interim CEO of Valeant.

[103][104] Shkreli also refused to answer even seemingly trivial questions outside the subject matter of the hearing, including those pertaining to his purchase of a Wu-Tang Clan album.

"[107] Federal prosecutors said that Shkreli and co-defendant, Evan Greebel, "engaged in multiple schemes to ensnare investors through a web of lies and deceit.

"[108][109] In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Shkreli said that he was targeted by law enforcement for his price hikes of the drug Daraprim and his flamboyant personality.

[114] Shkreli's frequent criticisms of the federal prosecutors in New York's Eastern District, whom he called "junior varsity" compared to their counterparts in the Southern District across the East River, both on his Facebook streaming video feed and in the hallways of the courthouse, led those prosecutors to request that judge Kiyo A. Matsumoto issue a gag order to prevent what they called a "campaign of disruption".

[118] On September 13, 2017, his bail was revoked following a Facebook post offering $5,000 for a strand of Hillary Clinton's hair which the judge perceived as solicitation to assault, which is not protected under the First Amendment.

[126][127] During his sentencing, Judge Kiyo A. Matsumoto said Shkreli seemed "genuinely remorseful" regarding his "egregious multitude of lies" but faulted him for having "repeatedly minimized" his misconduct.

[134] Jacquelyn M. Kasulis, the acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said "Shkreli has been held accountable and paid the price for lying and stealing from investors to enrich himself", and "With today's sale of this one-of-a-kind album, his payment of the forfeiture is now complete.

[136] On March 27, 2018, it was reported that Judge Kiyo Matsumoto agreed to recommend Shkreli serve his prison sentence at the minimum-security federal camp at USP Canaan, which he had previously requested.

[137][138] On April 18, 2018, Shkreli was transferred from Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn, to FCI Fort Dix (a low-security facility) after his request to serve at Canaan was denied.

[139] On September 6, 2019, several media outlets reported that Shkreli had leveled a lawsuit in a Brooklyn court claiming he had been fraudulently persuaded by a former investor in his Elea Capital fund to sign a promissory note that "left him owing $420,000 to the man's father.

[143][144] Shkreli asked the court for compassionate release in April 2020, saying that he should be allowed to live at the New York City apartment of his then-fiancée (later identified as former Bloomberg reporter Christie Smythe) and that his firm needed him to develop a remedy for COVID-19.

He made partial payments and the State recovered another $134,500 from the auctioning off of various assets seized from Shkreli; these included an Enigma machine for $65,000, a manuscript signed by Isaac Newton, and letters from Charles Darwin and Ada Lovelace.

[172] In March 2018, following Shkreli's conviction for fraud, a federal court seized assets belonging to him worth $7.36 million, including Once Upon a Time in Shaolin.