Vyera Pharmaceuticals, the company that Martin Shkreli founded and used to conduct a securities fraud that landed him in prison, filed for bankruptcy yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reported. Vyera, its Swiss parent company Phoenixus and several affiliates filed for protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., after the reputational harm from Shkreli’s fraud hampered them from opening bank accounts, commercializing products or raising capital, court papers say. Shkreli founded the companies in 2014, originally under the name Turing Pharmaceuticals, focusing his efforts on acquiring drugs that were the only viable option for patients afflicted with rare life-threatening diseases, and then raising prices. He was arrested in 2015 and convicted of federal securities fraud in 2017, and began serving a federal prison sentence that year. But he continued with his business strategy from prison, conducting his operations by giving orders to directors and officers he appointed using a contraband cellphone. In 2020, the Federal Trade Commission and a number of state attorneys general sued Shkreli, Vyera and Phoenixus for alleged antitrust violations. Following the FTC complaint, the business appointed a new board and management team, which took steps to eliminate Shkreli’s influence, according to court papers filed Wednesday by their chief restructuring officer, Lawrence Perkins.
