Martin Shkreli is the still-boyish-looking 34-year-old entrepreneur derisively known as “Pharma Bro.” His own attorney confessed to wanting to punch him in the face occasionally. Martin, before the sentence, choked up as he confessed to mistakes and admitted to the shareholders that he had defrauded them. At one stage, a clerk handed him a box of tissues.
CNBC reports that Shkreli asked for leniency before his sentence.
I want the people who came here today to support me to understand one thing: The only person to blame for me being here today is me,” he said. “There is no conspiracy to take down Martin Shkreli. I took down Martin Shkreli.” – Martin Shkreli speaking in third person, like all the greats do
In August, the 34-year-old was detained on federal fraud charges, accused of deceiving investors regarding a set of hedge funds he worked. Shkreli also manipulated inventory stocks for his firm Retrophin, and utilized that money to pay back investors of the hedge funds.
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U.S. District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto gave Martin a sentence of 7 years. Prosecutors wanted 15 and his defense argued for 18 months. He was also fined $75,000.
Back in August he was found guilty of lying to his investors in and cheating them out of millions. This case was not related to the 2015 incident where he was accused of price-gouging and went on TV with his famous smirk, but his arrest was seen as sweet justice by many.
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The judge insisted that he did not take into account Shkreli’s online antics, or when he famously raised the price of the anti-parisitic drug Daraprim from $13.50 to $750 a pill.
This case is not about Mr. Shkreli’s self-cultivated public persona … nor his controversial statements about politics or culture.” – Judge Kiyo Matsumoto
But she did say that she doubted the sincerity of his remorse due to his conduct after the verdict. She cited when he bragged after the verdict that he would only be sentenced to time served. And she quoted him in correspondence having written, “F— the feds.”
He received credit for the roughly six months he has been in jail.