'Pharma Bro' Martin Shkreli Gets 7 Years In Prison For Securities Fraud

Justice came for Martin Shkreli.

The so-called “Pharma Bro” was sentenced Friday to 84 months in prison after having been convicted in August 2017 on two counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud. Prosecutors were looking for 15 years prison time.

Shkreli had been found not guilty on five other charges but had pleaded not guilty to all counts, calling the trial a "witch hunt of epic proportions."

Rewind: What Happened?

Shkreli co-founded MSMB Capital Management in 2009 and then co-founded and led Retrophin Inc RTRX in 2011. Retrophin terminated Shkreli in September 2014 and filed a $65 million suit in August 2015 for alleged misuse of company funds and violation of securities rules.

Prosecutors claimed Shkreli had lied to MSMB investors about the fund’s performance and, after the firm collapsed, paid them out with $11 million in Retrophin assets not authorized by the biotech board.

The FBI arrested Shkreli in December 2015, and he was subsequently indicted in Brooklyn’s Federal District Court for securities fraud and conspiracy. He posted a $5 million bail in January 2016 and began trial in June 2017.

Since then, his former attorney, Evan Greebel, was found guilty in the fraud case, and Netflix.com, Inc. NFLX released a documentary condemning his greed.

Context Of Character

These details round out a self-made persona widely pilloried.

Ahead of the legal ordeal, Shkreli had earned public censure for the price hikes of critical, unchallenged and potentially life-saving drugs at both Retrophin and Turing Pharmaceuticals.

He continued his provocation from prison with brazen attacks on public figures, including Merck & Co., Inc. MRK CEO Ken Frazier and Hillary Clinton. The latter offense — a public offering of $5,000 for a strand of Clinton’s hair — resulted in the revoking of a $5 million bail.

Related Links:

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Image Credit: House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons