Shkreli’s Ex-Lawyer Convicted of Aiding Him in Fraud Schemes
Shkreli’s Former Lawyer Convicted of Aiding Him in Fraud Scheme
(Bloomberg) -- A former lawyer for Martin Shkreli’s companies might be heading to prison after a jury convicted him of scheming with the former biotech executive to defraud a pharmaceutical firm.
Evan Greebel, who advised companies including Retrophin Inc., was found guilty Wednesday of helping Shkreli steal $11 million from the company to pay back investors after Shkreli, a hedge-fund-manager-turned-drug-executive, lost their money in risky trades.
Greebel was expressionless as the verdict was read in federal court in Brooklyn, New York. His wife, sitting in the gallery, burst into tears.
"We’re just shocked by the decision," Reed Brodsky, a lawyer for Greebel, said after the verdict. He blamed the verdict on Greebel’s association with Shkreli, who incited public outrage for aggressive drug-pricing tactics. "Shkreli himself is so toxic that it’s hard to, in today’s environment, get justice."
Shkreli, who was convicted in August of defrauding investors, is being held in prison while he awaits sentencing. He was ousted from Retrophin in September 2014 and went on to found Turing Pharmaceuticals AG, where he jacked up the price of a life-saving drug by more than 5,000 percent. Four months later in December 2015, he was charged with fraud. Greebel was tried separately from Shkreli.
Greebel was found guilty of conspiring with Shkreli by helping him devise sham settlement and consulting contracts to pay back investors, using assets from Retrophin, as well as helping Shkreli in a share-control scheme. Jurors at Greebel’s trial were treated to a virtual repeat of Shkreli’s case, with many of the same investors, consultants and board members making repeat appearances as trial witnesses.
This time, Greebel’s defense lawyers dug up more dirt on government witnesses, including an admission from an accountant testifying about an alleged fraud that he had engaged in his own possible ethical breach by making a $200,000 loan off-the-books to another client. Defense lawyers accused a former Retrophin employee testifying about questionable transactions of engaging in cybercrimes to gather evidence. A lawyer advised him not to answer those questions, citing his privilege against self-incrimination.
Greebel was a corporate lawyer at Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP who advised Retrophin as outside counsel. Current Retrophin CEO Steve Aselage and former chairman Steve Richardson testified that Greebel appeared to show more loyalty to Shkreli than to the company, including by advising him about the terms of his employment agreement when the board was in the process of ousting Shkreli in late 2014.
Emails showed Shkreli berating Greebel, calling him and his colleagues "lazy and stupid and paid too much." Prosecutors alleged that Greebel showed deference to Shkreli and "hatched a plan" with him to engage in fraud.
Other lawyers who worked with Greebel, testifying for the defense, said he was a talented attorney and that Shkreli was a just a difficult client. Greebel’s witnesses said they believed the consulting agreements were legitimate.
After a 10-week trial, Greebel was convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud for helping Shkreli steal from Retrophin and conspiracy to commit securities fraud for helping him manipulate company shares. He remains free on bail. A sentencing date hasn’t been set. He faces a maximum of 20 years in prison but is likely to get much less under federal guidelines.
Greebel’s attorneys will ask the judge to throw out the verdict.
"We believe and hope that the judge will evaluate the testimony and the law, and right the injustice," Brodsky said.
The verdict could be bad news for Shkreli at his sentencing Feb. 21. Shkreli, who faces as long as 20 years in prison, was convicted of fraud and conspiracy but acquitted of stealing from Retrophin. U.S. District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto could opt to consider the latter allegation as part of her sentence now that another jury has concluded there was a plot to steal from the company.
The case is U.S. v. Shkreli, 15-cr-00637, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn).
To contact the reporter on this story: Christie Smythe in Brooklyn at csmythe1@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Peter Blumberg
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