CEO Who Hiked Price of Drug Arrested After Securities Probe

Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO and former hedge fund manager Martin Shkreli, who was heavily criticized for raising the price of a drug used to treat a life-threatening infection by more than 4,000 percent, has been arrested by federal authorities.

Shkreli was arrested early Thursday morning and charged with securities fraud by federal prosecutors for allegedly plundering Retrophin, a biopharmaceutical company he used to run, for personal gain, a FBI spokeswoman and law enforcement officials confirmed to ABC News.

Calls to Shkreli's attorneys were not immediately returned.

Retrophin filed a lawsuit against Shkreli in August alleging he used the company to "enrich himself" and pay off claims to other investors, according to court documents. The company seeking $65 million in damages from the former manager. In a post from earlier this year, Shkreli defended his time at the company and said that every transaction he made at the company was done with the "blessing" of outside counsel.

Shkreli called the lawsuit allegations "untrue at best and defamatory at worst," in a post on Investorshub.com, "I am evaluating my options to respond. Every transaction I've ever made at Retrophin was done with outside counsel's blessing."

Shkreli faced intense backlash after Turing Pharmaceuticals hiked the price of Daraprim, an antiparasite drug, from $18 to $750 earlier this year.

ABC News' Aaron Katersky contributed to this report.