Potential jurors blast Martin Shkreli
As trial opens, his reputation slows down proceedings
Martin Shkreli’s notoriety as the much-criticized poster boy for prescription drug price hikes clearly precedes him, complicating the process of selecting a jury for his unrelated fraud trial that started Monday.
The process of choosing 12 jurors and six alternates to hear the Brooklyn federal court case instantly bogged down Monday, as dozens of prospective panelists were dismissed after some alternately referred to Shkreli as a “snake,” the “face of corporate greed” and the “most hated man in America.”
Inaccurately, two even told Judge Kiyo Matsumoto, prosecutors and defense lawyers that they believed Shkreli was responsible for raising the cost of the allergy injection medication known as EpiPen.
“I honestly don’t think I could be impartial,” said one woman, who, like all prospective jurors, were publicly identified not by name, but by numbers assigned through the court system.
“Who does that?” the woman added, referring to the 5,000% Turing Pharmaceuticals price increase Shkreli ordered on Daraprim, a potentially life-saving medication for those with HIV and others with weakened immune systems. “A person who puts profit over everything else,” she said, answering her own question as she used her hands to mimic wringing the defendant’s neck.
Prospective jurors made the statements even though they were told the conspiracy and securities fraud charges against Shkreli are not related to prescription drug prices.
Matsumoto last week had forecast the possibility of completing jury selection and proceeding to opening statements by prosecutors and defense lawyers as soon as the trial’s first day. But by Monday afternoon, at least 69 of 130 prospective jurors had been dismissed — including at least a dozen for bias against Shkreli.
Unlike those who openly criticized the pharmaceutical industry entrepreneur, many others interviewed during jury selection were dismissed after they said that serving on the projected four- to six-week trial would pose a family, health, job or other hardship. Such pleas are common occurrences for court cases that last more than a few days.
Despite the trial’s relatively slow initial pace, opening statements could take place sometime Tuesday. Shkreli sat alone at the courtroom’s defense table as potential jurors were questioned behind him. Dressed in a gray jacket and light-colored shirt without a tie, he alternately jotted notes and pushed his dark hair away from his forehead.
Potential jurors gave their opinions about the 34-year-old businessman in private conferences inside a large ceremonial courtroom with the judge and attorneys on both sides. Largely approving a motion filed last week by media organizations, Matsumoto authorized designated news reporters to monitor the conferences and relay the comments to other colleagues covering the trial.
Shkreli’s lead defense attorney, Benjamin Brafman, had opposed the monitoring. In a letter to the court last week, he cited “a steady stream of negative and prejudicial press coverage” toward Shkreli and urged that potential jurors be questioned in a private process “without fear that their comments will be publicly reported.”
Amid Monday’s wave of dismissals, Brafman said he anticipated fresh news accounts that “will further complicate the already complicated job” of ensuring that Shkreli receives a fair trial.
Potentially adding to such complications, Assistant U.S. Attorney Alixandra Smith said any decision by Shkreli to testify in his own defense potentially “opens the door” for prosecutors to cross-examine him about drug price increases, along with his actions in the alleged fraud schemes.
An eight-count criminal indictment unsealed in December 2015 alleges Shkreli illegally took stock from Retrophin — a biotechnology company he started in 2011 and was ousted from in 2014 — and then used it to pay unrelated debts owed to investors in hedge funds he’d previously headed.
The indictment also accuses Shkreli of defrauding investors in MSMB Capital and MSMB Healthcare through misstatements and omissions about the financial performance of the hedge funds, how much other investors put in, and how much Shkreli took out.
In all, he withdrew and spent more than $200,000 from MSMB Capital during the fund’s operating life, “far in excess of any permitted fees,” the indictment charges.