Martin Shkreli, a former pharma company executive who ordered a life-saving medicine’s price to be raised dramatically, has been excluded from the business for the rest of his career.
Judge Denise Cote ruled on Friday that he must refund $64.6 million (£47 million) in earnings from the plan.
She found that Mr Shkreli’s conduct were in violation of anti-monopoly legislation.
Mr. Shkreli is presently incarcerated after defrauding investors.
However, this decision is based on his decision in 2015 to boost the price of Daraprim, a long-established drug used to treat toxoplasmosis, from $13.50 to $750 in one day, a nearly 4,000 percent increase.
He also devised supply arrangements to prevent competitors from providing a generic version of the unpatented drug, which is used to treat parasite illness in pregnant women and HIV patients.
His actions were controversial, earning him the moniker “Pharma Bro.”
In 2020, seven states and the Federal Trade Commission filed a complaint against him, alleging that he engaged in anti-competitive behavior in violation of state and federal laws.
Mr Shkreli was dubbed the “primary mover” in the scam by US District Judge Cote.
She added, “It was his invention, and he drove it every step of the way.”
Mr Shkreli’s company, Vyera Pharmaceuticals, which was previously known as Turing Pharmaceuticals, had already agreed to pay $40 million.
One of the authorities who launched the complaint, New York Attorney General Letitia James, applauded the ruling.
Mr. Shkreli and his partner, she claimed, had illegally hiked the “price of a life-saving medicine when Americans’ lives were on the line.”
“However, Americans may relax since Martin Shkreli is no longer a Pharma Bro.”
