Smith writes: "Martin Shkreli, the former pharmaceutical executive who gained notoriety for hiking up the price of a life-saving drug, will finally go on trial next week on charges of ripping off investors."
Martin Shkreli, photographed during a court hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 4, 2016. (photo: Reuters)
'Pharma Bro' Martin Shkreli Fraud Trial Begins Next Week
25 June 17
Martin Shkreli, the former pharmaceutical executive who gained notoriety for hiking up the price of a life-saving drug, will finally go on trial next week on charges of ripping off investors.
hkreli sparked outrage in 2015 for increasing the price of Daraprim, a drug used by AIDS patients, by more than 5,000% from $13.50 to $750 a pill while he was CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals.
But that controversy has nothing to do with his criminal trial, set to begin on June 26 in federal court in New York.
Shkreli faces charges of securities fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy for allegedly cheating investors out of more than $11 million between 2009 and 2014 in what federal prosecutors called a "Ponzi scheme."
Shkreli is accused of mismanaging money at his investment funds Elea Capital, MSMB Capital, MSMB Healthcare, as well as while CEO of Retrophin (RTRX), the pharmaceutical company he founded in 2011.
Prosecutors say Shkreli lied to investors at MSMB Capital and MSMB Healthcare about the performance and assets of the investment funds and used money from Retrophin to pay off MSMB investors as well as Shkreli's personal loans and other debts.
A former lawyer for Retrophin, Evan Greebel, is charged with helping in the allegedly fraudulent activity. Both have pleaded not guilty.
Shkreli, 34, faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. He resigned from Turing after his arrest in 2015.
It was while head of Turing that Shkreli earned the reputation as the "most hated man in America" for boosting the cost of the AIDS drug. His critics include the rapper Ghostface Killah, who dissed him in a video rant as a "fake super villain." Then presidential candidate Donald Trump dismissed him on the campaign trail as a "spoiled brat."
Shkreli's lawyer Ben Brafman told CNNMoney in an email on Friday that Shkreli "is really a special kid who could cure cancer if left alone."
Shkreli does not seem to be bothered by his infamy. He smirked during Congressional testimony last year, pleading the Fifth Amendment and later tweeted about "imbecile" lawmakers. He's often found on YouTube, livestreaming for hours from his Manhattan apartment while wearing pajamas, strumming a guitar, playing video games and taking calls from fans. He was suspended from Twitter and Periscope for harassing a Teen Vogue journalist.
Brafman told CNNMoney that he "would prefer that Mr. Shkreli not live stream during trial" but said his client "did not intentionally violate the law [and] is confident he will be acquitted?. While I can control his conduct in the courtroom, I cannot control his life nor do I have the right to interfere with his personal life."
Shkreli has claimed to own a Picasso, and bought an unreleased Wu-Tang album for $2 million before his arrest. He has also bragged about his wealth, saying on his live streams he is worth as much as $100 million.
His actual net worth is not known. Earlier this month, his attorneys asked that Shkreli's bail be lowered from $5 million to $2 million, so he could pay legal fees and taxes.
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NEVER VOTE REPUBLICAN
Onward 99%. It will be tough but we must sustain.
Well said, Eronat, and these are not even the "agent provocateurs" yet. These are the well-known (Since Seattle) Anarchists who show up perpetrating violence and destruction at protests where the Anarchists themselves can't even describe what is being protested. They just love to "sock it to the system". *Any* excuse to violence and vandalism is better than *no* excuse to violence and vandalism for these louts.
They always wear black clothing, black masks, and carry black flags. What's with Bubb Rubb quoted in the article as saying: "these people in black clothes with black flags .... they bamboozled us. They wanted violence."
They are ANARCHISTS, "Bubb", they *always* "want violence". If Occupy Oakland has a free library like OWS, better study up a little on the recent history of West Coast activism. The better to avoid being "bamboozled" over lack of easily accessed information. Knowledge is Power.
Or are you an out and out Fascist? You sure sound like it.
It's people like you who are finks and blacklegs to the corporate state and who are holding America back from entering the 21st century -42nd in the world in quality of life indicators as of recent polls and from being a force for good in the world by caring for it's own citizens and those in need of help abroad instead of being an over-armed thug.
Have YOU ever put your body on the line (other than possibly time a lock-step "yassuh" military cipher) for something you believe in passionately or are you happy with the "kick me again your lordship" status-quo?
The police should be out there with them and the real criminals are waltzing around in suits, albeit starting to shit in their Armanis!
"Oh villainous viper, damned beyond redemption, terrible Hell be on your spotted soul for this"!
NEVER VOTE REPUBLICAN!
Clinton opened the back door, George W. busted down the front door and the barn door, letting go the herd. Obama is allowing for the same thing. But in truth this all began during the time of Nixon/Reagan. Nothing is as simple as democrat vs. republican. Never forget the corporations that exited the country, along with factories and money.
It is very difficult to rid a protest of anarchists, thugs, plants, or any other critter attempting to denigrate dignified demonstrations. Everyone involved will have to police their own neighborhood demonstrations and call out the thugs. It is NOT easy.
Guess your corporate handlers didn't "spring" for a calculator or a calender, huh. BTW, your still in the gulag, and that fact is never gonna change. No matter how hard you "suck". What is "in tact" anyway?
PLEASE Mr. Eagle, I don't mean to come off as being mean-spirited, but for your sake and for the sake of the rest of us, get some professional councelling! Seek real life education! Then you too shall see the true light of what this country (and parts of the rest of this planet) has been suffering. ...And for God's sakes, PLEASE stop watching Fox News!
Then you can with enlightenment and dignity armed with the true knowledge, join our cause for the sake of the country and the world at large! Thanks!
Er...then it was some rogue billionaires in the 1% doing it? Of course it was the 99% - maybe only 1% of the 99% but it certainly helps more to tell the truth.
Having pointed that out- most protesters have been extremely restrained and should stay that way. It's the one thing the authorities don't understand. They understand and react to violence but are dumbfounded when confronted with peaceful obstinacy. The people shall overcome!
If you haven't caught on yet, you aren't paying attention and need to wake up!
Obama is behind the police repression. Karl Rove has little to no sway over mayors. Furthermore, a friend has started looking into which mayors belong to which party. So far, all Democrats except for one. But not finsihed yet.
Re this excerpt from the article: ". . . witnessed two demonstrators hurl items in retaliation.
I say good for them. The thugs who are perpetrating violence deserve whatever happens to them.
As for the people doing damage - has it occurred to anyone that these could be gov't installed perpetrators so that the police violence can be justified by our fascist leaders?
So what do YOU want? Again, you are the one with the twisted perspective and yet I've never hear a productive suggestion from y'r keyboard.
I'm a small business owner feeling the oppression of corporate monopoly and applaud every day these people make themselves felt.
Again, put up or shut up, mouthpiece and apologist for the power-elite with their freedom-and-cre ativity-killing jackboots!
Stop the flood of Chinese cheap bleep that displaces our workers? Or what?
Extraordinary show of force. Okay, the point has been made. Now what?
Until our demands are met? What demands? Who can actually meet them?
Arab Spring wanted rid of dictators--Assa d, Ghadafi, Mubarek, et al. must step down. The Euro protests raged at austerity that hit their 99% disproportionat ely.
Protests had an end point. I'm not seeing one here or any connection either.
Provocateurs and plants as well as undisciplined fools will drive away responsible protesters.
The big corporations ARE the bad guys and most bad in that they underwrite the politicians and determine policy by the overwhelming force of wealth and subsequent infiltration of the federal bureaucracy. Their agents are the regulators.
Big Corporations are no friends of small business.
While character flaws were surely involved in the flameout of our economy, much of the dysfunctional system is so set in place that often even smart, well intentioned people can't do their jobs.
Bashing government employees is not a way to foster pride in one's job and devotion to the public good. The government-is -bad mantra is a useless piece of ideological claptrap deflecting from the size of reform needed.
When will you honestly recognize, in your somewhat blinkered determination to blame the Government for everything and rationalize for big corporations, that they are one and the same thing, or a plutocracy?
And if you don't think that this is becoming a police state, you must live a very sheltered life. The Texas police now has drones; just a matter of time before they use them to stifle dissent on behalf of the Owner-Governmen t.
Try dissenting! Try protesting! Try getting to know some of those you call criminals -but then that's more challenging Innit?.
I was a 60's and 70's activist, and have faced the same clubs and agents provocateurs (and yes, there are loose-cannon scum, many being bored upper-middle brats who get their rocks off doing damage attributed to true and peaceful resisters then melting away). But now the cops have phasers, and all sorts of other crippling and sometimes lethal deterrents; just ask young Scott Olsen.
If you've never been out there, don't condemn what you don't understand and remember, dissent is truly democratic!
Read "The Nightmare Years" W.L. Shirer.