He could be the world’s most hated CEO, and promised to be on the attack against Congress. But now, it seems bad-boy ex-pharmaceutical company chief and prolific social media user Martin Shkreli has been muzzled.
A new lawyer in a federal securities fraud case against Shkreli told reporters outside court on Wednesday that his client would stop speaking out in his own defense until the charges are resolved.
“We want to try this case in the courtroom and not in the media,” defense attorney Benjamin Brafman said with a silent Shkreli at his side following a pretrial hearing in Brooklyn.
Shkeli, 32, gained notoriety last year after a drug company he founded, Turing Pharmaceuticals, spent $55 million for the U.S. rights to sell a life-saving medicine called Daraprim and promptly raised the price from $13.50 to $750 per pill.
The spotlight intensified last year when he was arrested on charges related to a hedge fund he once ran. Prosecutors allege that after he lost investors’ money through bad trades, he looted Retrophin, another pharmaceutical company where he was CEO, for $11 million to pay back his disgruntled clients.
Since the arrest, Shkeli has frequently turned to social media and news outlets to lash out at his accusers. In a TV interview this week about his expected appearance before a congressional committee investigating the price of drugs, he said he’d like to “berate” and “insult” Congress — but instead will take the Fifth Amendment.
On Wednesday, a prosecutor told the judge that the value of a brokerage account used to secure Shkeli’s release on $5 million bond — mostly invested in a biotech business once operated by Shkeli — had declined, and that more collateral may be needed if it goes down any further. Brafman said it wasn’t surprising the account took a hit.
“There’s nothing like an indictment to affect shares of stock,” he said.
Shkeli’s other assets most notably include the only copy of a Wu-Tang Clan album titled “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin,” which the hip-hop group sold on the condition that it not be released publicly. He said he paid $2 million for it.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
Your Presidential poll is set up in such a way as to cause unintentional. Votes for Trump. Anyone who knows polling picks this up easily, especially on an android cell phone. Scrolling a touchscreen causes a vote for Trump. If you avoid Trump you activate others in trying to scroll down to the very last name on the list, to reach the “C” name at the very end? Uhnm, why? What sorting method puts Cruz there? I question your assertions on independence.
EVERY THING IS SO CORRUPT NOT UNLIKE OUR GOVERNMENT, NOTHING IS EVER DONE ABOUT IT BUT TALK.
AGREE 100%
AM TIRED OF CONTRIBUTING MONEY TO ORGANIZATIONS THAT ONLY ASK FOR MORE MONEY AND ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING.
WOULD LIKE TO SEE THEM EXERSIZE THE CLAUSE IN THE CONSTITUTION THAT SAYS THAT IF A PRESIDENT IS NOT DOING HIS JOB ACCORDING TO THE CONSTITUTION, HE CAN BE REMOVED.
SO WHERE ARE ALL THOSE WHO WERE VOTED INTO OFFICE TO UPHOLD THE CONSTITUTION. NOW THAT THEY HAVE THEIR POSH JOBS THEY HAVE SETTLED IN AND ON THE DOLE FROM WHOM AND WHEREVER THEY CAN GET IT.
ONLY TWO REPRESENTATIVES WHO HAVE THE WHERE-WITH-ALL ARE TRAY DOWDY AND DARRELL ISSA.
Were did the 870 billion dollar stimulus money go?
In NObama’s offshore bank account!
Off shore so he won’t have to pay income taxes and to buy his
4.5 million dollar estate in the middle east. All kick backs from iran, another terrorist country.
I AGREE WITH KARACEK
The DRUG TERRORIST SHOULD BE EXECUTED.