Lawsuit: Scumbag Pill Price Gouger Stalked and Harassed Ex-Coworker's Entire Familyby Sam Biddle
9/22/15
![Image](http://rapeutation.com/AfterGettingShamed5000.1c_small.jpg)
Even before he earned national infamy for jacking up the price of life-saving cancer and HIV meds and then being a general shit about it on Twitter, Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli was working hard on a toxic reputation. Court documents show Shkreli’s disturbing history of tormenting the wife and daughters of a business foe.
Timothy Pierotti was a colleague of Shkreli at his pervious biotech venture, Retrophin, before an alleged business deal gone awry created bad blood. From there, legal documents allege, Shkreli proceeded to harass and threaten Pierotti’s family via email, Facebook, LinkedIn, and text message. Pierotti says Shkreli—a one time Forbes “30 Under 30” honoree—even broke into various online accounts owned by his family:
2. In particular, I submit this affidavit to provide first-hand evidence of the repetitious harassment that Shkreli has inflicted on not only me, but on my wife, teenage children, elderly father, as well as other family members. Shkreli has harassed me and my family for nearly a year, and his harassment intensified on and around this past Christmas. Indeed, Shkreli sent multiple unwelcome texts and social media messages to my family and me on Christmas Day.
3. In addition, I submit this affidavit to provide first-hand esvidence of the breaches of five of my personal accounts, including my AOL email, Gmail, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter accounts.
In January of 2013, Pierotti’s wife received this letter, ostensibly from Shkreli, in which he says “I hope to see you and your four children homeless and will do whatever I can to assure this”:
Needless to say, when I initiate my litigation, I will sue both you and your husband for fraud. I am going to inform the bank who holds your mortgage and local police department that you have committed fraud. I hope to see you and your four children homeless and will do whatever I can to assure this. Your husband's arrogance is unfuriating and making an enemy out of me is a huge mistake. I am tempted to withdraw my offer for $40,000 to make this all go away, but I implore you to reason with your husband. $40,000 is enough for him to get off of his ass and find a real job, something I know he truly has no interest in doing. However, I will leave the door open as I know you have no interest in you and your husband being sued for fraud and your bank terminating your mortgage, something I assure you I will stop at nothing to accomplish.
Thank You,
Martin Shkreli
1-212-983-1310
The campaign of harassment continued through the rest of 2013, including a litany of Facebook messages and friend requests, including one sent to Pierotti’s elderly father. A sampling can be viewed below:
Martin Shkreli
Hi Kristen. I hope you're well. Today, we are filing a summons demanding $3 million in damages and penalties from you and your family, specifically your husband. We are alleging fraud, fraudulent inducement and other charges which we can easily prove with written records and testimony from Tim's colleagues (6 people). I regret your husband's dishonesty and willingness to steal large amounts of money from me and my firm. We will get it back and then some. I'm going to be sending copies of the summons with notice to everyone you and your husband know, and probably subpoena you and your contacts to ensure appropriate discovery of facts. You're one of 35 people who will receive notice today.
REDACTED
Martin Shkreli
How do you sleep at night? Your husband stole millions from me.
Pierotti’s son, 16 at the time, received these IMs:
Martin Shkreli
hey. I'm a friend of your father.
December 20, 2013.
REDACTED Plerotti
ok so why did you friend me?
December 21, 2013
Martin Shkreli
im surprised you don't know who I am. I was your dad's boss
December 21, 2013
REDACTED Pierotti
ok so why did you friend me?
December 24, 2013
Martin Shkreli
because I want you to know about your dad
he betrayed me. he stole $3 million from me.
December 24, 2013
REDACTED Pierotti
doubt it
Martin Shkreli
I sued him, ask him about it
he took $3 m that didn't belong to him
Shkreli was even creative enough to use LinkedIn as a channel for harassment:
Linkedin
Scumbag.
-Martin Shkreli
The creepiest moment from a creep who seems to know no bounds is this text message to Pierotti’s wife—one of many such “sweetie” texts, according to a police report:
Dec 26, 2013 2:54 PM
Hey sweetheart
That same police report includes accusations that Shkreli had broken into Pierotti’s Gmail account, using that access to reset his Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter accounts. Shkreli allegedly went so far as to publish unflattering posts about Pierotti from Pierotti’s own Facebook account, prompting him to discover that many of his passwords had been changed without his permission:
Facebook: REDACTED
Hi Timothy.
Twitter: Your Twitter password has been chan.. You recently changed the password associate
Fri Dec 27
account-verification-noreply: Google Email Verification
Welcome in Google Accounts. To activate you
12/26/2013
Facebook: Someone may have accessed your ac...
Secure Your Account No
https://www.fac12/26/2013
account-verification-noreply: Google Email Verification
welcome to Google Accounts. To activate you
12/25/2013
Facebook: You requested a New Facebook pass..
This message contains a rich text HTML
12/26/2013
Facebook: REDACTED commented on your
See Comment
12/26/2013
Facebook: Facebook password reset
Hi Timothy. Your Facebook password was
12/26/2013
Facebook: You requested a new Facebook pass..
This message contains a rich-text HTML
12/26/2013
AOLHelp
AOL Account Password Res..
AOL User, Our records show that the pas
12/26/2013
According to the police report, Shkreli denied even knowing Pierotti when contacted by an officer. He later settled out of court for an undisclosed amount, Bloomberg reports.
You can read the full legal complaint below:
Retrophin v. Timothy Pierotti, Memorandum of Law in Support of Defendant Timothy Pierotti's Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff's Amended ComplaintAll replies
The following replies are approved. To see additional replies that are pending approval, click Show Pending. Warning: These may contain graphic material.
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Matt
Sam Biddle
9/22/15 1:55pm
I hope for this assholes career ruination. Seriously, I hope all of this makes him so fucking toxic that he loses everything he's gained and no one will touch him for anything more important than an entry level position and that this time next year he's taking orders from a 21 year old at a Taco Bell and is having to drive a 20 year old Accord that's about to go tits up.
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Ian Muir
Matt
9/22/15 1:59pm
We can all hope for it, but let’s face it, he’s still going to make millions from this bullshit Daraprim thing and he will continue to be a very rich waste of oxygen for the rest of his life. All we can hope is that he gets some terrible disease and goes bankrupt due to some insane cost increase in the drugs he needs to cure it.
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BobbySerious
Matt
9/22/15 2:00pm
No way, this is America, greed is not only applauded, it’s a fucking virtue.
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Matt
Ian Muir
9/22/15 2:03pm
I would love for next week there to be a headline where some hot-shot chemist compounds a drug that is twice as effective as Daraprim and can be easily produced for like 3 cent a pill and would just make it obsolete.
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DarthPumpkin
Matt
9/22/15 2:03pm
He’s basically toxic at this point. I can’t imagine his investors will let him stick around, not with all this negative publicity. Other biotech firms likely won’t work with him because he’s giving them all a bad name and attracting the attention of regulators and politicians.
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ad infinitum
Sam Biddle
9/22/15 1:58pm
Nothing like spending months stalking someone’s family on social media to say, “I have a solid, actionable legal case here.”
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DressagesWithWolves
ad infinitum
9/22/15 2:03pm
It’s really an excellent way to convince people you’re a reasonable person who isn’t one tiny bit insane and will TOTALLY not escalate your demands until one day they come home to find you naked in their house pissing on everything screaming “AND NOW THAT’S MINE AND NOW THAT’S MINE TOO” and they have to beat you to death with a chair.
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BrtStlnd
ad infinitum
9/22/15 2:04pm
The only response would be “Ok, great. Now we do as well!”
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Fizzaaaaaaaaaartz
ad infinitum
9/22/15 2:06pm
Somehow “you stole 3 million from me” turned into “I will pay you an out of court settlement.” Hmmm.
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Jerry-Netherland
ad infinitum
9/22/15 2:10pm
Right? If he’s so confident, why tank the case with all of this outside meddling? Leave it to the lawyers. But, then this guy (who is still just 32) was mentored by that most responsible douchebag emeritus, Jim Cramer.
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Quantum Suicide
Sam Biddle
9/22/15 2:03pm
This dude’s got Zero Chill.
The son, on the other hand? All Chill.
Martin could pick up a few tips from him. But will he? “doubt it.”
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Harbour Seal
Quantum Suicide
9/22/15 2:07pm
I want to stand that lad a pint.
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Quantum Suicide
Harbour Seal
9/22/15 2:10pm
If I were that kid, I’d make the whole exchange my comp wallpaper and just let the honeys roll in.
But he’s so chill he probably doesn’t even care how hero he is.
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Harbour Seal
Quantum Suicide
9/22/15 2:12pm
“Your father stole 3 million from me”
“Dude why are you so pressed”
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Quantum Suicide
Harbour Seal
9/22/15 2:13pm
ok so why did you friend me
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igotwords
Sam Biddle
9/22/15 2:05pm
Come on internet... don’t let me down!
There have been times when going after someone personally and exposing their private secrets is unwarranted and wrong.
This is NOT one of those times. This guy is literally profiting from the suffering of other humans directly, not offhandedly, not over the long run, not without direct intimate knowledge.
He is a horrible despicable excuse for human being, who represents what unbridled greed, and ‘free market principals’ on steroids with a mentality that makes human traffickers look sympathetic by comparison. He deserves to have his entire life looked at with a microscope so we can fully understand where he came from.
I try my best in life not to hate people, but if ever a man was worthy of hatred, criticism, and public mockery IT IS THIS MAN.301
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Cam/ron
igotwords
9/22/15 2:16pm
“This guy’s fucked up, even to me!”
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VtDkDude
igotwords
9/22/15 2:17pm
Ugh. He is a horrible human being.
“Oh yeah, there is this drug that lots of people need and lots of people use. What? We aren’t overcharging and gouging sick people? Wait, can we charge more? Oh, we should only start with a 5,000% increase? I guess. Oh, I forgot, I need more gel.”
Dude your “well the other drugs cost even more, so I am not doing anything worse than they are” argument just shows off how much of a fucking douchebag you are and it makes my face burn. I really hope something horrible happens to you. Just to you. No one else around you, friends (unbelievable but you probably found some fellow assholes) or family. Just. You.
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Babe Bennett
igotwords
9/22/15 2:26pm
I don’t know if he’s really any worse than the automobile executives who wheedled bailouts out of Congress while selling cars that they knew had defects that would kill people or the petroleum company executives that pumped toxic chemicals into the ocean in order to mask the extent of the oil spill caused by their negligence or the military profiteers who got us into Afghanistan and Iraq and are now clamoring for us to invade Iran and Syria...
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opiumsmabytch
igotwords
9/22/15 2:35pm
It’s a self-serving cycle too, “peers” jack of the price to be in line, over and over, the line just keeps shifting up. That that is their focus.... is so glaring. The levels of entitlement here are astronomical.
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SaitoHawkeye
Sam Biddle
9/22/15 2:01pm
Even ol’ Patrick B. is like, get a load of THIS douchecanoe:
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Terry
SaitoHawkeye
9/22/15 2:09pm
I love Phil Collins.
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SaitoHawkeye
Terry
9/22/15 2:11pm
Christy, get down on your knees so Sabrina can see your asshole.
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Cam/ron
SaitoHawkeye
9/22/15 2:15pm
Poor Huey Lewis and the News.
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SaitoHawkeye
Cam/ron
9/22/15 2:18pm
Their early work was a little too new wave for my tastes.
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Greasy Thumb Guzik
Sam Biddle
9/22/15 3:09pm
This is yet one more reason why I, a life-long Democrat despise Obama.
All he has to do is put Daraprim or any other obscenely overpriced drug on compulsory license & the government can obtain it at the lowest cost from any manufacturer in the world & then distribute it. When there was the 2001 DC anthrax attacks, the government forced Bristol Myers/Bayer to drastically cut the price of Cipro [ciproflacicin], still under patent, by threating to issue a compulsory license for it.
Obama is really a Republican, a DINO!
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deliaplum
Greasy Thumb Guzik
9/22/15 3:43pm
but it wasn’t obscenely overpriced until this douchebag jacked up the price to $750. Is Obama supposed to be a psychic?
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Greasy Thumb Guzik
deliaplum
9/22/15 3:57pm
It’s been close to a month since the price was raised by this asshole. The Bush Administration forced down the price of a drug by threatening a compulsory license, so it shouldn’t be difficult for a Democratic one to do the same!
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bobbythunderskull
Greasy Thumb Guzik
9/22/15 4:06pm
What in the name of Chuck Norris’s fists are you on about? Since when does the president have control over how much a drug company charges for its wares?
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deliaplum
Greasy Thumb Guzik
9/22/15 4:35pm
they threatened to break Bayer’s patent on Cipro so Bayer backed down. they kept their patent. they agreed to sell to the govt at a drastically reduced rate (but only to the government). this was in the event of a terrorist anthrax attack since Dubs promised to “keep muricans safe”
this drug, however, is out of patent and any other drug company can make it. so, Obama cannot threaten to break a patent as there is not one. and apparently, the FDA has no control over drug prices. and neither can Obama. no patent, no threat.
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EvanrudeJohnson
Sam Biddle
9/22/15 2:09pm
This may be sort of besides the point, but this bothered me. Turd Boy stated in the second paragraph to the wife, “From Day 1, Tim was a terrible employee”.
If Marty knew this guy was a bad employee, pretty much from the onset, then it is Marty who is the moron for giving this guy 400,000 shares and a bunch of other money.
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AlphaOmegaAesop
EvanrudeJohnson
9/22/15 2:19pm
You know your company is doing great when 400,000 shares equals 1.6 million dollars.
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NoButWait
EvanrudeJohnson
9/22/15 2:23pm
Stinks, doesn’t it? If Tim was such an awful employee, he must have had some amazing connections to remain employed so long and score a $5000 check and 400k shares of the company.
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KittyPancakes3.0
EvanrudeJohnson
9/22/15 2:26pm
That’s whats so funny about guys like this, they think they’re soooo much smarter than everyone, that they can make the story up as they go along, and lie and cheat and steal, and that no one will ever be the wiser.
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Myrna Minkoff
EvanrudeJohnson
9/22/15 2:31pm
Also, I’m not a finance whiz, but if you receive shares under contract for work, I’m pretty sure you can’t just “run off” with them. Depending on how they are awarded, either you own them even if you quit the next day OR they are delayed compensation that you receive AFTER the contract terms are met.
He makes it sound like Perrotti stuffed the shares in his hobo sack and ran off like the Hamburglar with them.
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EasttoMidwest
Sam Biddle
9/22/15 3:00pm
He’s in his early thirties and he’s been chosen as a CEO of a company. That tells me that the company was not in such hot shape, which makes their acquisition of Daraprim seem a bit... unlikely, financially speaking. Sure, his strategy is clearly to acquire low-hanging fruit without competitors and then jack up the price, corporate raider style, but I’m very curious about how that deal was financed in the first place. Note, this strategy also runs completely counter to the idea that they would be conducting their own research into new drugs.
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OhMaiGolly
EasttoMidwest
9/22/15 3:39pm
Are you knowledgable with regard to business and whatnot?
Pretty much the entire day I’ve wondered if there is anything at all that can be done to undo what this guy has done. Is there? I can’t figure out how I would go about asking Google this question so it’s a shot in dark asking random commenters but so be it.
I wish I could ask this in a more eloquent way but my brain is shot at the moment. This has seriously been on my mind and angering me since last night til sleep and then as soon as I woke back up. I suppose that has something to do with having a parent who only entered remission from breast cancer a year ago. It's personal. Fuck this guy.
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EasttoMidwest
OhMaiGolly
9/22/15 4:03pm
The short is answer is maybe. I’m not an expert in generic pharma law and regulation, but it does exist and it’s entirely possible that the FDA or/and the FTC will do one of a few things: 1) Play hardball on future acquisitions, 2) Fast track (and sweeten) competitive products, 3) It’s maaaaaaaaybe possible that they have the power to demand price changes.
He would be likely to get bumped by the board for bad publicity, but the board of directors page on their website is .... empty. This is functionally a private company owned by Shkreli.
The best bet would be that he sold shares to people who are going to sue him. He didn’t pay for the acquisition on his own, so there are other interested parties. On the other hand, they may not give a shit as long as he’s taking the heat.
The next bet would be that the FDA and FTC refuse to let this organization buy any other products.
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EasttoMidwest
EasttoMidwest
9/22/15 4:05pm
Just realized this is his own company, that he founded. They have two products.
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OhMaiGolly
EasttoMidwest
9/22/15 6:52pm
Thanks for responding. That was an interesting read.
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Avery Jane Spencer
Sam Biddle
9/22/15 1:59pm
I love how Shkreli thinks this teenager would know the name of his dad’s boss is and other personal details of their work relationship. Shkreli cannot fathom that people don’t know who he is even children.
Plus this kid had a fantastic response and didn’t even know it.
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qu1j0t3
Avery Jane Spencer
9/22/15 2:24pm
Maybe he does know it.
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif)
Anyway if he finds this thread, he will!
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Jeff_bott
Avery Jane Spencer
9/22/15 2:25pm
doubt it
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1llamarampage will write again
Avery Jane Spencer
9/22/15 2:49pm
Right? I’m an adult, and very interested in my dad’s work (I’m proud of him, and I like to hear more things about him that make me proud) so we talk about it all the time, and I don’t know his boss’ name.
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coolbreeze
Avery Jane Spencer
9/22/15 2:50pm
This kid deserves an award.
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miley cyrus' medical marijuana card
Sam Biddle
9/22/15 1:53pm
Hey Sam, are we not covering Azaelia Banks calling a flight attendant a faggot today?
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McGarnagle
miley cyrus' medical marijuana card
9/22/15 2:04pm
Why should any news outlet continue covering that fucking idiot? Who cares?
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igotwords
miley cyrus' medical marijuana card
9/22/15 2:12pm
celebrity says something offensive... film at 11.
CEO raises cost of life saving drug %5000+, causing desperate people to have to shell out hundreds of thousands, potentially ruining lives and bankrupting them, and you shrug?
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godspeed_aquaboy
miley cyrus' medical marijuana card
9/22/15 2:12pm
Try the tipline. Unless you are trying to annoy the fuck out of everyone else. And who the fuck is Azaelia Banks, which might be why they aren’t running the story.
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caekislove-caekingitup
miley cyrus' medical marijuana card
9/22/15 2:16pm
That’s TMZ’s moral panic of the day. This is ours.
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