March 5 (UPI) — A federal judge ordered former Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli to forfeit $7.36 million in financial assets Monday as part of his upcoming criminal sentence.
Judge Kiyo Matsumoto ruled that in order for Shkreli — whose lawyer said he was completely cash-broke last year — to reach the award amount he must forfeit the interest in a series of so-called “substitute” assets.
The assets include $5 million in cash in an E-Trade brokerage account used as security for Shkreli’s bail and Shrkeli’s shares and interest in Vyera Pharmaceuticals, formerly known as Turing Pharmaceuticals.
They also include a number of collector’s items such as Once Upon A Time in Shaolin a one-of-a-kind album by the hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan and proceeds from the album’s sale, the album Tha Carter V by rapper Lil Wayne, a painting by Pablo Picasso, and a device known as an Enigma Machine used by British codebreakers to decipher German messages during World War II.
Shkreli reportedly paid $2 million for the Wu-Tang Clan album at an auction in 2015, but his lawyer Benjamin Brafman said it was “probably worthless”after it was questioned whether the album could actually be attributed to the hip-hop group.
The $7.36 million forfeiture doesn’t include fines, penalty or restitution Matsumoto might impose during his sentencing.
Shkreli was convicted last summer of misleading investors in two hedge funds he ran about the financial performance of their money in those funds. He also was convicted of fraud for manupulationg stock shares in Retrophin, another drug company he founded.
Matsumoto ruled in February that Shkreli was responsible for more than $10.4 million in losses, despite arguments from his lawyers that he caused no loss because he paid hedge fund investors their money back and more with cash and stock in Retrophin.
Shkreli is scheduled to be sentenced Friday and faces a potential maximum 20-year prison sentence.
