A drugs boss branded the 'most hated man in America' has been jailed for seven years.
Martin Shkreli was convicted of defrauding investors when he concealed huge losses from two hedge funds he ran.
The hedge fund manager turned pharmaceuticals boss was widely vilified in 2015 after hiking the price of a HIV drug by 5,000% overnight.
Shkreli was unrepentant when he was accused of holding terminally ill patients to ransom, saying it was justified because the drug was so specialised.
Between 2009 and 2011, Shkreli he covered up heavy losses at his two hedge funds and then plundered cash from another company to mask the problem.
His lawyers petitioned the judge to impose a sentence of 12 to 18 months for fraud, while prosecutors were seeking at least 15 years.
But the federal court imposed a sentence of seven years in Brooklyn, New York, yesterday.
Benjamin Brafman, Shkreli's lawyer, admitted in court there are times he wants to 'hug' his client and other times he wants to 'punch him in the face'.
Shkreli said in court: "There is no conspiracy to take down Martin Shkreli.
"I took down Martin Shkreli with my disgraceful and shameful actions."
The son of Albanian and Croatian immigrants, Shkreli grew up in a working-class community in Brooklyn, New York.
Academically gifted, he skipped several grades and earned a degree before landing an internship at a hedge fund firm at 17.
He started his own hedge fund, Elea Capital Management, in 2006, aged 23.
But a year later it was hit with a £1.75million lawsuit from Lehman Brothers and closed – though the bank collapsed before it could collect.
Shkreli started several other firms before launching Turin Pharmaceuticals, the outfit that bought rights to life-saving drug Daraprim for £35.5million and put the price per tablet up from £8.70 to £484. The backlash from the public and even politicians Shkreli’s firms bankroll was immediate.
Defending himself last year, he said: “If there was a company selling an Aston Martin at the price of a bicycle and we buy that company and ask to charge Toyota prices, I don’t think that should be a crime.”
The effort only deepened the revulsion people felt for Shkreli, who had begun to cultivate his “Pharma Bro” persona and launched a live-stream blog on YouTube .
He even flaunted his wealth in May 2015 by buying a one-off copy of an album by hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan for a reported £2million, making it the most expensive musical work ever sold. The episode helped establish him as a pariah.
He also earned nicknames and labels including “scumbag”, “evil incarnate” and “everything that is wrong with capitalism”.
While running for the White House, Hillary Clinton said: “Price gouging like this in the speciality drug market is outrageous.” And when Trump said he “looks like a spoiled brat”, Shkreli fumed: “F*** him. And I thought we could be friends.”
A month later, Shkreli agreed to lower the drug price to an “affordable level” – but he never revealed what that was.
As far as his reputation was concerned, the damage was done. Suddenly, Shkreli’s former firms were thrust into the spotlight – most notably biotech outfit Retrophin, which he founded in 2011.
It too had form for hiking drug prices, including raising the price of kidney medication Thiola by 2,000%.
Shkreli was forced out of Retrophin in 2014 and the following year he was hit with a federal lawsuit for £50million by his former firm, for allegedly using profits to pay off investors in a previous venture that went bust.
He was led away in handcuffs after being arrested in an early morning raid in December 2015.
The five-week court hearing in Brooklyn last month became a media circus. Shkreli was so notorious it took three days to find 12 jurors who did not have an opinion of him.
It was said several prospective jurors referred to him as “a snake” and “an evil man” and were dismissed. One even said: “The only thing I would be impartial about is which prison he goes to.”
The prosecution accused Shkreli of faking everything from school record to business reports, while his team set out to portray him as a misunderstood “nerd” who went to work wearing a “stethoscope and bunny slippers”.
One witness even likened Shkreli to the autistic savant played by Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man.
His attorney, Benjamin Brafman, told jurors: “Is he strange? Yes. But his investors used his genius and made millions.
"Despite his flaws and his dysfunctional personality, Martin Shkreli is brilliant beyond words.” Brafman finished: “As Lady Gaga would say, he was born this way.”
While his legal team were trying to argue him out of a lengthy jail sentence, Shkreli took on the world on social media.
His Twitter account was suspended for harassing journalist Lauren Duca, who he invited to be his “plus one” at Trump’s inauguration. Duca shot back: “I would rather eat my own organs.”
Even this didn’t stop Shkreli, who launched new accounts and still live-blogged on YouTube. In one rant, he said he would be acquitted because he was “so innocent”. And he vowed: “As soon as I win I’m gonna sue everybody.”
Shkreli’s outbursts became so erratic the judge banned him from speaking to journalists for the remainder of the case.
After the jury retired, he grew impatient and irritated, tweeting “Cmon gimme dat verdict” and “Yeah I’m innocent stupid”.
After three days, he was found guilty of three out of eight financial irregularity charges, including securities fraud.
The judge released him ahead of sentencing on £5million bail.
Even so, Shkreli’s brazen front remained and he said: “When you have the entire federal government on you, it’s daunting standing up to them.
"We fought back and feel like we won. This was a witch hunt of epic proportions. And maybe they found one or two broomsticks but at the end of the day we’ve been acquitted of the most important charges.”
Appearing on YouTube after the verdict, he said his sentence would be “close to nil”. He added jail did not scare him and he would go to a minimum security facility he described as “Club Fed”.