Notorious drug company CEO convicted of 3 of 8 counts
Shkreli became symbol of industry price-gouging
NEW YORK — Martin Shkreli was convicted of three of eight counts of securities fraud Friday, bringing to an end a five-week trial that focused on his actions running two hedge funds and a pharmaceutical company before he became infamous for jacking up the price of an AIDS drug.
He faces up to 20 years in prison, though legal experts say he is likely to get much less.
Shkreli was dressed in a shortsleeve polo shirt and shook his head in apparent disbelief when the first guilty verdict was read. His father in the front row put his head in his hands.
“We’re delighted in many ways,” Shkreli said later outside the courtroom, saying he was glad to be exonerated on other charges he considered more serious.
“This was a witch hunt of epic proportions,” he said. “Maybe they found one or two broomsticks, but at the end of the day we were acquitted of the most important charges in this case.”
The conviction is an important victory for federal prosecutors, who have struggled to convict high-profile Wall Street figures.
“Rarely has a white-collar criminal defendant evoked hatred and scorn from public in the way Shkreli has. Shkreli’s willingness to lie, step on people, flaunt his wealth and look down on others made him a villain that many wanted to see go down in flames,” said James Goodnow, an attorney with Fennemore Craig, a corporate defense firm.
Prosecutors argued that Shkreli lied to investors in two hedge funds and the pharmaceutical company Retrophin, all of which he founded. Shkreli told investors he graduated from Columbia University, that his hedge fund was large and profitable, and that he had hired an auditor, they said. These were all lies, according to prosecutors.
Shkreli’s defense attorney Benjamin Brafman disputed all of these charges and attempted to sway the jury with a simple rebuttal: His investors were wealthy and sophisticated and he ultimately made them richer.