--- title: Pharma CEO Martin Shkreli Calls Fraud Accusations 'Baseless' description: Prosecutors allege that he designed a "Ponzi-like scheme" canonical: https://time.com/4156102/pharma-ceo-shkreli-calls-fraud-accusations-baseless/ author: NBC News article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-19T21:14:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T13:31:19.973Z article:section: Business og:title: Pharma CEO Shkreli Calls Fraud Accusations 'Baseless' og:description: Prosecutors allege that he designed a "Ponzi-like scheme" og:url: https://time.com/4156102/pharma-ceo-shkreli-calls-fraud-accusations-baseless/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt670258ff63408bd1/69887636f887dc54d6e93d60/martin-shkreli2.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Shkreli Resignation og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Pharma CEO Shkreli Calls Fraud Accusations 'Baseless' twitter:description: Prosecutors allege that he designed a "Ponzi-like scheme" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt670258ff63408bd1/69887636f887dc54d6e93d60/martin-shkreli2.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Pharma CEO Shkreli Calls Fraud Accusations 'Baseless' by [NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Dec 19, 2015 9:14 PM CUT  Martin Shkreli is escorted by law enforcement agents in New York after being taken into custody following a securities probe, on Dec. 17, 2015. Martin Shkreli is escorted by law enforcement agents in New York after being taken into custody following a securities probe, on Dec. 17, 2015.Craig Ruttle—AP by [NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Dec 19, 2015 9:14 PM CUT Disgraced pharma magnate Martin Shkreli defaulted to his defense-by-Twitter ways on Saturday to label allegations of fraud lobbed against him as “baseless and without merit.” Shkreli, 32, [was arrested Thursday by the FBI on seven counts related to “widespread” securities fraud](http://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/fbi-arrests-controversial-turing-pharmaceuticals-ceo-martin-shkreli-report-n481671 "undefined") through a hedge fund and drug company he once ran. An indictment said Shkreli and others orchestrated three interrelated scams from September 2009 through September 2014\. Prosecutors allege that he designed a “Ponzi-like scheme” in which he illegally used assets from a biopharmaceutical company that he founded, Retrophin Inc., to pay off debts from a hedge fund he also managed. Retrophin had. . . [_Read the rest of the story from our partners at NBC News_](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/pharma-ceo-martin-shkreli-calls-fraud-accusations-baseless-tweet-n483166?cid=par-time%5F20151219 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4156102/pharma-ceo-shkreli-calls-fraud-accusations-baseless/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4156102/pharma-ceo-shkreli-calls-fraud-accusations-baseless/"},"headline":"Pharma CEO Shkreli Calls Fraud Accusations 'Baseless'","datePublished":"2015-12-19T21:14:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:31:19.973Z","description":"Prosecutors allege that he designed a \"Ponzi-like scheme\"","url":"https://time.com/4156102/pharma-ceo-shkreli-calls-fraud-accusations-baseless/","keywords":["Crime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt670258ff63408bd1/69887636f887dc54d6e93d60/martin-shkreli2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"NBC News","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nbc-news/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt670258ff63408bd1/69887636f887dc54d6e93d60/martin-shkreli2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Shkreli Resignation","caption":"Shkreli Resignation","creditText":"Craig Ruttle—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4156102/pharma-ceo-shkreli-calls-fraud-accusations-baseless/","name":"Pharma CEO Shkreli Calls Fraud Accusations 'Baseless'"}}]}] ```