Judge rejects early prison release of ‘Pharma Bro’ Shkreli

NEW YORK — A judge rejected the request of convicted pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli to be let out of prison to research a coronavirus treatment, noting that probation officials viewed that claim as the type of “delusional self-aggrandizing behavior” that led to his conviction.

U.S. District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto said Saturday that the man known as the “Pharma Bro” failed to demonstrate extraordinary factors that would require his release under home confinement rules designed to move vulnerable inmates out of institutions amid the pandemic.

“Disappointed but not unexpected,” Shkreli’s lawyer Benjamin Brafman said.

Shkreli is serving seven years for a 2017 conviction of lying to investors about the performance of two hedge funds he ran.