--- description: It's unclear whether Ron Tilles held venture capital or private equity roles. title: Martin Shkreli's Replacement Has a Questionable Past image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt89f96ce0a0f540e6/6988766d5f570f3954b1eedc/shkreli-tilles-december-2015.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Companies](/tag/companies/) ## Companies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Martin Shkreli's Replacement at Turing Pharma Has a Questionable Past by [Dan Primack / Fortune](/author/fortune/) ## Dan Primack / Fortune Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 21, 2015 10:21 PM CUT  Martin Shkreli, chief executive officer of Turing Pharmaceuticals LLC, exits federal court in New York, U.S., on Thursday, Dec. 17, 2015. Martin Shkreli, chief executive officer of Turing Pharmaceuticals LLC, exits federal court in New York, U.S., on Thursday, Dec. 17, 2015.Bloomberg / Getty Images by [Dan Primack / Fortune](/author/fortune/) ## Dan Primack / Fortune Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 21, 2015 10:21 PM CUT When Martin Shkreli stepped down as CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals last week—following his arrest for securities fraud—the controversial company named chairman Ron Tilles as interim CEO. Not terribly surprising, even if Tilles has deep ties to Retrophin Inc., a different biotech company at the heart of Shkreli’s alleged transgressions. (Tilles was mentioned in [the complaint](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1438533/000119312515292581/d19898dex991.htm "undefined") against Shkreli, but was not charged with any wrongdoing.) What was strange, however, was how Turing Pharma described Tilles in the press release announcing his appointment: --- > “” --- Unfortunately, there is no publicly-available evidence that Tilles ever held even a single private equity or venture capital position in the pharma or medical device industries, let alone “numerous” ones. In fact, his [official bio](http://www.turingpharma.com/company/senior-management "undefined") on the Turing Pharma website omits any mention of venture capital or private equity work. Tilles is registered as an active broker-dealer with Robert W. Meredith & Co., although a person who answered the phone at Robert W. Meredith could not confirm his current involvement. According to [a document](http://brokercheck.finra.org/Report/Download/39957445 "undefined") Tilles filed with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), he previously was registered with six other securities firms—dating back to Merrill Lynch between 1985 and 1987\. There are a few short gaps in the history—and a bit of overlap—but the longest lag is well short of a single year: * Robert W. Meredith: 12/04-present * Cripple Creek Securities: 10/04-1/05 * Condor Securities: 11/93-1/03 * Yamaichi International : 1/92-8/93 * LIT America: 4/89-5/91 * Nikko Securities: 4/88-1/89 * Merrill Lynch: 9/85-7/87 In that same document, Tilles writes the following: --- > “” --- There is a world of difference between providing part-time consulting to venture-backed biotech companies and holding a “venture capital position” within said biotech company. Perhaps the Turing press release referred to how Tilles served as Retrophin’s director of business development, a position that sometimes involves venture capital or private equity activities. But Retrophin was hardly an active investor, with S&P Capital IQ showing not a single equity investment in a privately-held company (unless you include a few strategic acquisitions). It also is worth noting that neither Retrophin nor Turing are mentioned by Tilles on his FINRA doc under a section titled “employment history,” which is supposed to cover the past decade. Tilles is listed as a board member on the website of an enterprise software company called QuantumID Technologies, but his QID email no longer works and phone calls to the company redirect to what seems to be a personal voicemail. A Turing Pharma spokesman has not returned requests for comment, and an email sent to an alternate address for Tilles has not been returned. _This_ [_article_](http://fortune.com/2015/12/21/martin-shkrelis-replacement-has-a-questionable-past/?xid=soc%5Fsocialflow%5Ftwitter%5FFORTUNE "undefined") _originally appeared on_ [_Fortune.com_](http://fortune.com "undefined")_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4158056/ron-tilles-questionable-past/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4158056/ron-tilles-questionable-past/"},"headline":"Martin Shkreli's Replacement at Turing Pharma Has a Questionable Past","datePublished":"2015-12-21T22:21:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:34:32.787Z","description":"It's unclear whether Ron Tilles held venture capital or private equity roles","url":"https://time.com/4158056/ron-tilles-questionable-past/","keywords":["Companies"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt89f96ce0a0f540e6/6988766d5f570f3954b1eedc/shkreli-tilles-december-2015.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dan Primack / Fortune"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt89f96ce0a0f540e6/6988766d5f570f3954b1eedc/shkreli-tilles-december-2015.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Martin Shkreli Arrested on Securities Fraud Charges","caption":"Martin Shkreli Arrested on Securities Fraud Charges","creditText":"Bloomberg / Getty Images","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":"/tag/companies/","name":"Companies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4158056/ron-tilles-questionable-past/","name":"Martin Shkreli's Replacement at Turing Pharma Has a Questionable Past"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Hated 'Pharma Bro' Who Spiked HIV Drug Price Arrested On Fraud Charges","description":"Martin Shkreli, CEO of the company that raised the price of a life-saving drug, was reportedly arrested on fraud charges unrelated to the drug price.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/3o3cYy77/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-12-17T15:47:14.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/3o3cYy77.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4158056/ron-tilles-questionable-past/","duration":"PT51S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4158056/ron-tilles-questionable-past/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```