Martin Shkreli: ‘Pharma bro’ anticipating jail time after being found guilty of fraud

Martin Shkreli guilty — (Image credit: The Morning News / Facebook)

Former pharmaceutical CEO Martin Shkreli who gained notoriety and infamy for jacking up the cost of a life-saving drug by 5,000% in 2015 was found guilty of three of eight counts of conspiracy to commit securities fraud in a Brooklyn federal courtroom on August 4. A.K.A. ‘Pharma bro,’ Shkreli is still awaiting sentencing on those guilty counts and is looking at a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. At a news conference following his guilty verdicts, Shkreli characterized the case against him as a “witch-hunt,” according to The Business Insider.

Shkreli was found not guilty on five other counts of fraud, to which he said delighted him immensely. Following his trial yesterday, the former CEO was quoted by the Insider as saying “This was a witch hunt of epic proportions. Maybe they found one or two broomsticks, but at the end of the day we’ve been acquitted of the most important charges in this case, and I’m delighted to report that.” He went on to say that the jury owed him an apology for the guilty verdicts because he was “so innocent.”

As CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals back in September 2015, Shkreli jacked up the price of the life-saving drug Daraprim from $13.50 per pill to $750 per pill, according to CNBC. Daraprim is used to treat parasitic infections. Interestingly, his securities’ fraud charges for which he was found guilty yesterday were not related to that obscene price increase – but resulted from a history of misuse of his management of hedge funds from earlier in his career. Still, many took delight in his just deserts.

Shkreli’s lawyer, Ben Brafman, was well aware of the disdain the general public had for his client and argued in court that the negative press regarding the events surrounding the price increase of Daraprim should not be held against him. In his opening statements, Brafman said “You may not like Martin Shkreli, and you may have reasons to hate Martin Shkreli, but that is not a basis on which to convict,” according to the Insider. Shkreli lost money while managing those hedge funds and did not divulge those losses to his clients.

Shkreli is currently free on $5 million bail. Following announcement of his guilty verdicts, Shkreli went on a marathon live-stream from his apartment to engage a base of admirers that actually love the guy. During the live-stream, Shkreli told his fans not to feel bad for him regarding those guilty verdicts; because in fact, things could have gone much worse for him in court. The Washington Post quoted a portion of that live stream:

“This could have been a real big setback for my life,” he said,” but it’s gonna end up being a footnote in my life.” He gave himself a “50-50 chance” of going to jail, and he seemed confident that he would serve months, at most, behind bars. Shkreli faces up to 20 years in prison, although as my colleagues report, legal experts think he’ll probably get a much shorter sentence.