First day of deliberations ends with no verdict in Shkreli trial
The jury in so-called NEW YORK “Pharmacy Bro” Martin Shkreli’s fraud trial went home Monday evening after spending a full day of deliberations without reaching a verdict.
U.S. District Court Judge Kiyo Matsumoto told the panel of seven women and five men to resume Tuesday morning after the jurors sent out a note just after 5 p.m. ET asking how long they were expected to continue deliberating.
The note marked the jurors’ first communication with court officials since the opening day of their secret discussions began more than seven hours earlier.
Prosecutors and defense lawyers largely spent the day in the Brooklyn federal courtroom. Shkreli, however, spent some of the waiting time in the building ’s cafeteria and tracking Monday’s ouster of White House communications director Anthony Scara- mucci. In a Facebook posting, the sometime-Trump supporter declared himself a replacement contender.
Hours before jury deliberations began, Shkreli talked stocks in his weekly recap of his investing prowess.
With seemingly “What, me worry?” aplomb, Shkreli told a Sunday-night online audience of Facebook Live fans that his portfolio of health care and tech stocks was up nearly 10% so far this year amid a continuing bull market.
The 34-year-old New Yorker appeared to refer to the trial near the end of his weekly stock recap when he told viewers he had a “big binary event coming up this week” — an occurrence with two potential outcomes, one good and one bad. “Wish me luck,” Shkreli said. An eight-count federal conspiracy and fraud indictment accuses him of scamming investors in two health care-focused hedge funds he once ran. He then allegedly repaid the investors by looting funds and stock from Retrophin, a pharmaceutical company he previously served as CEO. However, Shkreli is best known as the ex-Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO who imposed a 5,000% price hike on a medication used to treat a parasitic illness that typically strikes those with the AIDS virus and others with weakened immune systems.
Throughout the trial, Shkreli has continued to use Facebook Live and YouTube broadcasts to air his views and discuss his investment strategy.
He used Sunday night’s session to tout his success in placing short bets against health care stocks and criticize disappointing second-quarter earnings from Twitter, which has banned him.