New York Attorney General Letitia James and the Federal Trade Commission are asking a federal judge to hold Martin Shkreli in civil contempt, alleging that he traded pharmaceutical stocks and promoted related trades online despite a lifetime ban from the industry.
The request, filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, has not been granted. The attorney general's announcement and court memorandum set out the agencies' allegations; the court has not ruled on the new contempt claim.
The 2022 injunction barred Shkreli from directly or indirectly participating in the pharmaceutical industry, including owning stock in a drug company or making certain public statements intended or reasonably expected to influence its business. It followed a federal antitrust ruling over his company's handling of Daraprim, a drug used to treat toxoplasmosis.
In that case, the court found that Shkreli raised Daraprim's price from $17.50 to $750 a pill and restricted generic competition. It ordered him to pay about $64.6 million. His earlier imprisonment was for a separate securities-fraud case, not the new civil contempt allegation.
What the agencies allege
The new filing says Shkreli livestreamed trades involving pharmaceutical companies after his May 2022 release from prison. The agencies allege he held shares in more than 60 such companies and used videos and social media posts to discuss or encourage trades.
The memorandum highlights Shkreli's short position in Cassava Sciences in 2024. It says the value of a brokerage account shown during his livestreams rose from about $138,200 to $841,000 around the time Cassava announced a failed clinical study. Those figures are the account's reported total value, not a verified profit from the Cassava trade alone.
The filing also describes later trades, including an unsuccessful short position in Capricor Therapeutics in 2025 and a new account with a displayed starting balance of $10 million in June 2026. The agencies say the public trading record may not capture all of his accounts or transactions.
Sanctions sought, not imposed
James, the FTC and six other states want Shkreli to sell any pharmaceutical-company holdings, provide a sworn accounting and pay for an auditor to review it. They also seek a monetary sanction equal to profits from drug-company stock trades since the injunction took effect Feb. 4, 2022, with interest and without offsetting trading losses.
The filing asks the court to set escalating penalties, potentially including incarceration, if Shkreli fails to comply with a future order. It also seeks to preserve potential evidence. None of those requested sanctions is in effect through this motion alone.
California, Illinois, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia joined the filing. Shkreli's response was not included in the attorney general's release or the memorandum; the allegations remain subject to the court process.
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