Remember Martin Shkreli, the “pharma bro” who everybody hates because his former company, Turing Pharmaceuticals, raised a life-saving drug’s price from $14 to $750 a pill? Well, as if we needed more reasons to dislike him, Turing executive Nancy Retzlaff has filed a complaint saying the company retaliated against her after she was sexually assaulted by Turing’s cofounder, according to The New York Times.
Retzlaff, who helped Shkreli defend Turing during a congressional hearing in February, filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Monday. She said that Edwin Urrutia, the co-founder of Turing, sexually harassed her at a hotel bar, forced her to come to his room for a drink, then threw her on the bed and assaulted her. He groped and kissed her against her will, and tried to pull off her tights before she was able to get away from him and run out of the room, according to the Times.
Retzlaff didn’t report the assault, but after a coworker reported Urrutia’s behavior, Turing hired an outside company to investigate. The investigation backed up Retzlaff’s story, and Urrutia ended up resigning so he wouldn’t be fired. But even though the investigation found Retzlaff was assaulted, she says the company, which Shkreli was still involved in running at the time, retaliated against her for causing trouble—she didn’t get the promotion or stock in the company she was promised before Urrutia left.
Shkreli told the Times that Retzlaff didn’t live up to expectations, and that’s why she didn’t get a promotion. But since he’s no longer the CEO of the company, he claimed not to know anything about the sexual assault investigation aside from rumors.