FTC seeks contempt order for Martin Shkreli over pharma ban

The Federal Trade Commission and seven states have asked a federal court to hold Martin Shkreli in contempt, alleging he flagrantly and repeatedly violated a court order prohibiting him from working in the pharmaceutical industry. The agencies filed the request on Tuesday, citing Shkreli's continued involvement in the sector despite the legal restrictions placed on him.

Shkreli, widely known as "pharma bro," gained national notoriety in the 2010s after raising the price of the anti-parasitic drug daraprim by 5,000%. In 2018, he was sentenced to seven years in prison for defrauding investors. A court banned him from ever working in the drug industry again before his release in 2022, determining that he had illegally attempted to prevent generic competition to daraprim. The current legal action marks a renewed effort by regulators to enforce that industry-wide prohibition.