He wanted Clinton hair - he got jail
UNITED STATES: Martin Shkreli’s big mouth has landed him in jail even before his fraud conviction did.
A US judge revoked the former pharmaceutical executive’s bail yesterday, ordering him jailed immediately, over a bounty Shkreli issued in a Facebook post for a strand of former secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s hair.
‘‘The fact that he continues to remain unaware of the inappropriateness of his actions or words demonstrates that he may well be an ongoing danger or risk to the community,’’ US District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto said.
Shkreli was stone-faced as the New York judge handed down her decision. He was led away by two deputy US marshals and into a prisoner holding cell adjacent to the sixth-floor courtroom.
He will be held at the Metropolitan Detention Centre, according to his lawyer Benjamin Brafman. It’s a federal jail in the Sunset Park section of Brooklyn that has housed terrorists and mobsters.
‘‘We are obviously disappointed,’’ Brafman said after the hearing. ‘‘We believe the court arrived at the wrong decision, but she’s the judge and right now we will have to live with this decision.’’
Shkreli, 34, was convicted last month of three of eight charges, including two counts of securities fraud. He was acquitted of fraud charges related to the alleged looting of the drug company he founded, Retrophin. He faces a maximum of 20 years in prison on each of the securities fraud charges, though he’s likely to get a lesser term. He’s scheduled to be sentenced on January 16. – TNS