‘Pharma Bro’ convicted in split verdict
Feds win on top counts in ex-exec’s fraud trial
NEW YORK — Martin Shkreli, the eccentric former pharmaceutical CEO notorious for a price-gouging scandal and for his snide “Pharma Bro” persona on social media, was convicted Friday on federal charges that he deceived investors in a pair of failed hedge funds.
A Brooklyn jury deliberated five days before finding Shkreli guilty on three of eight counts. He had been charged with securities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Within an hour of leaving court, Shkreli was live-streaming on Youtube and calling the split verdict a victory, despite his conviction on two of the most serious counts. Prosecutors had a different take. “There’s one statement that’s most important and that’s the jury’s statement : guilty on those counts,” said acting U.S. Attorney Bridget Rohde.
Prosecutors had accused Shkreli of repeatedly misleading investors about what he was doing with their money. Mostly, he was blowing it with horrible stock picks, forcing him to cook up a scheme to recover millions in losses, they said.
Shkreli, 34, told “lies upon lies,” including claiming he had $40 million in one of his funds at a time when it had only about $300 in the bank, Assistant U.S. Attorney Alixandra Smith said in closing arguments.
But the case was tricky for the government because investors who testified said Shkreli’s scheme actually succeeded in making them richer, in some cases doubling or even tripling their money on his company’s stock when it went public.
For the boyish-looking Shkreli, one of the biggest problems was not part of the case. In 2014, he bought the rights to a life-saving drug and promptly raised the price from $13.50 to $750 per pill. Several potential jurors were kept off the panel after expressing disdain for the defendant, with one calling him a “snake” and another “the face of corporate greed.”
The defendant also came into the trial with a reputation for trolling his critics on social media to a degree that got him kicked off Twitter. No sentencing date was set.
After agreeing to continue Shkreli’s $5 million bail, the judge told him: “I wish you well, Mr. Shkreli. See you soon.”