Shkreli, who raised price of Aids drug by 5000%, convicted of fraud
A US jury convicted Martin Shkreli, the brash former drug company and hedge fund executive, on Friday of defrauding investors in hedge funds he ran years before he gained fame for jacking up the price of a drug.
Shkreli achieved notoriety in 2015 after the 34-year-old increased the price of a life-saving drug, Daraprim, used by people with Aids and others suffering from toxoplasmosis, by 5,000% overnight, shortly after his pharmaceutical startup bought the commercial rights to it.
That increase sparked outrage from US lawmakers and patients — and earned Shkreli the nickname “Pharma bro.”
Jurors in the Brooklyn district court found Shkreli guilty of two counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy. But they acquitted him of five conspiracy counts, including conspiracy to steal from his old drug company, Retrophin Inc.
Securities fraud carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, though defendants in such cases rarely receive the maximum sentence.
Immediately after the verdict, Shkreli appeared somewhat shaken.
But when he emerged from the courthouse later, he portrayed the verdict as a victory.
“This was a witch hunt of epic proportions, and maybe they found one or two broomsticks, but at the end of the day, we’ve been acquitted of the most important charges,” he told reporters.
Shkreli emphasized the jury’s finding that he did not conspire to steal from Retrophin. “Count seven was the government’s attempt to theorize that I robbed Peter to pay Paul, and the jury has spoken conclusively that Retrophin was not defrauded in this case,” Shkreli said.