There’s an old saying: It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. Enter Martin Shkreli, who became the face much of American just wanted to punch due to his greed, arrogance and lack of empathy. In case you were on Mars the past few years, Shkreli became (in)famous for raising the price of the drug Daraprim by more than 5,000 percent while running Turing Pharmaceuticals. He made it clear through social media that he could care less about the hardship on people, and flaunted his wealth. Now he’ll do 7 years in prison:
Notorious “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli made a sob-filled plea for leniency but ended up getting sentenced Friday to seven years in prison for federal fraud charges related to hedge funds and a drug company that he once ran.
“The one person to blame for me being here today is me,” a choked-up Shkreli told a judge before she imposed the prison term in Brooklyn, New York, federal court.
“Not the government. There is no conspiracy to take down Martin Shkreli.”
“I took down Martin Shkreli with my disgraceful and shameful actions.”
“This is my fault. I am no victim here,” Shkreli said, before breaking down into tears as he promised not to let his lawyer Benjamin Brafman down in his efforts to contribute to society.
“Do not feel bad for me,” Shkreli told a packed courtroom that included supporters and family members, many of whom had written letters asking Judge Kiyo Matsumoto to spare him from a harsh sentence.
And he had a message for the investors he duped: “I am terribly sorry I lost your trust. … You deserve far better.”
“I was never motivated by money,” Shkreli said. “I wanted to grow my stature and my reputation.”
“I am here because of my gross, stupid and negligent mistakes I made.”
Hoo, boy is he correct. Yes. Stupid. Arrogant. Negligent, and almost showing glee in displaying a lack of empathy. The Daily Beast gives this additional background:
The notorious 34-year-old ex-exec, often referred to as “Pharma Bro” or “The Most Hated Man in America,” was sentenced for defrauding investors of his hedge funds and for manipulating the stock of his pharmaceutical company, Retrophin.
The prosecution argued that Shkreli lied about how much money he raised for his hedge fund to lure investors, and failed to inform them when he incurred massive losses after a bad stock bet. After losing all of his investors’ money, he borrowed money from other investors or took stock and cash from his own drug company to pay them back. They asked for Shkreli to be sentenced for 15 years.
Government prosecutors said that Shkreli “stole money for his personal benefit” and is solely motivated by “his own image.” They claimed that the defense had “babysat” him, saying “He is about to turn 35 years old. He’s a man who needs to take responsibility for his actions.”
Shkreli’s defense had proposed a 12 to 18 month sentence, claiming that his “investors eventually made money and said the jury erred by convicting Shkreli on some of the counts he faced.” Judge Matsumoto rejected those claims during the proceedings.
His defense attorney, Ben Brafman, told the judge that, “There are times I want to hug [Shkreli]… There are times when I want to punch him in the face.” He added that Shkreli “cannot always control awkward, inappropriate behaviors.”
Yes, he may have some issues. MORE:
Shkreli’s schemes stretch long before his charges, however. The Pharma Bro is most famous for taking the 62-year-old drug Daraprim, used to treat newborn HIV patients, and jacking up the price 5,000 percent while CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals in 2015. Price per pill went from $13.50 to $750 each.
Since then, Shkreli had basked in his own infamy. He bought a $2 million dollar and one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album, publicly bragged about how he owned a Picasso painting, and announced a bounty of $5,000 for any one of his 70,000 Facebook followers who could provide him samples of Hillary Clinton’s hair while she was on her book tour.
But karma also came for Shkreli’s antics. The album and the painting were taken as part of $7.36 million of assets seized by the courts, and his Facebook post about Clinton cost him his bail for “solicitation of assault.”
Excuse my lack of empathy, but:
It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.