Scarsdale lawyer Evan L. Greebel, who was imprisoned for 18 months for his role in helping Martin Shkreli defraud investors, has been disbarred.
Greebel, 47, admitted that he had committed a serious crime, conceded that he cannot successfully defend against the facts and circumstances, and tendered his resignation “freely and voluntarily,” according to a ruling by the state”™s Second Appellate Division in Brooklyn.
Shkreli, Greebel”™s partner in crime, is perhaps best known for jacking up the price of a parasitic infection drug by more than 5,000% in 2015 as founder and CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals. Greebel was not implicated in that notorious episode.
He worked for Shkreli as outside counsel to Retrophin Inc., a biopharmaceutical company. From 2011 to 2014, Greebel and Shkreli conspired to use Retrophin assets, according to court records, to pay off defrauded investors in two hedge funds operated by Shkreli.
For instance, he prepared settlement agreements by which Retrophin paid more than $2 million to Shkreli”™s hedge fund investors, even though Retrophin had nothing to do with the hedge fund losses. He also concealed Shkreli”™s ownership in most of Retrophin”™s free-trading shares in an attempt to control the price and trading volume of Retrophin stock.
Greebel was convicted in 2017 in U.S. District Court, Brooklyn, on conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud. He was sentenced in 2018 to 18 months in prison and three years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay nearly $10.5 million in restitution to Retrophin.
He was released from prison in January 2020.
The Second Appellate Court had already suspended Greebel from practicing law because of the conviction, but it had deferred further action until his release from prison. Last May, the court ordered Greebel to show cause why he shouldn”™t be suspended again, censured or disbarred.
Greebel asked the appellate court to accept his resignation, and the court did so on April 28.
“I will regret every day of my life the day I met Martin Shkreli,” Greebel told the judge when he was sentenced in 2018. “I dread the day my children decide to search my name on the internet.”
Shkreli, 38, was convicted on security fraud charges and sentenced to seven years in prison. He currently resides in the low security prison in Allenwood Pennsylvania.
