The Federal Trade Commission has asked a federal judge to hold Martin Shkreli, the former pharmaceutical executive better known as “Pharma Bro” in the 2010s, in contempt of court for allegedly publicly trading in pharmaceutical industry stocks and giving his opinion on the pharma industry, according to a press release from the federal agency.
Shkreli first became internet famous after raising the price of a life-saving drug Daraprim from $13.50 to $750 a pill and bragging about how that just made him a good businessman. But prosecutors saw it differently and said he was engaging in an illegal, anticompetitive scheme to restrict access to the drug. He was arrested in 2015, and convicted in 2017 on eight counts, including securities fraud.
Shkreli was out on bail between his conviction and reporting to prison but was sent to jail in 2017 after a Facebook post in which he said he wanted to acquire some of Hillary Clinton’s hair. The Secret Service took this as a threat.
Shkreli didn’t immediately respond to questions emailed Tuesday. When I emailed with Shkreli back in 2017 to ask him about potentially going to prison, the pharma bro turned our exchange into a trolling competition. He asked if I was “antifa” and wrote that “given we live in a trump presidency, life is basically nirvana.” One of his emails ended with “NOW SET ME UP WITH DAT WIFE OF URS.”
Shkreli also noted that the sentencing guidelines for his crime were 0-6 months so he could just do some leisure reading in prison and “make paper from inside,” a suggestion that he’d still be making money.
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