'Pharma bro' Martin Shkreli unrepentant after conviction

  • 09/08/2017
He claimed he would be "the new f***ing boss" of the prison.
He claimed he would be "the new f***ing boss" of the prison. Photo credit: Reuters

Notorious former pharmaceutical company boss Martin Shkreli is unrepentant and lashing out, despite being found guilty on multiple counts of securities fraud.

Federal prosecutors had accused the 34-year-old 'Pharma bro' of defrauding investors in his hedge funds and stealing from his old drug company, Retrophin Inc, to pay them back.

Jurors found Shkreli guilty on two counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy, on the fifth day of deliberations. He faces up to 20 years in prison.

However, shortly after his conviction was announced, Shkreli livestreamed his reaction to the verdict, saying he was indifferent to prison and might even get his charges vacated.

"It doesn't seem like life will change much for Martin Shkreli," he said.

"I'm one of the richest New Yorkers there is, and after today's outcome, it's going to stay that way.

"I grew up on the mean streets of Brooklyn. I was across the street from 9/11; I've built businesses from zero to hero, many times over. A few months in jail does not scare me."

He also claimed he would be "the new f***ing boss" of the prison - and would be nicknamed "Big Rolls".

"This was a witch hunt of epic proportions and maybe they may have found one or two broomsticks," Shkreli told reporters outside the courtroom.

"But at the end of the day we've been acquitted of the most important charges of this case and I'm delighted to report that."

Shkreli's lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, had urged jurors to see his client not as a fraudster but as an eccentric genius determined to find cures for rare diseases.

"Martin is a brilliant young man, but sometimes people skills don't translate well," Mr Brafman said after the guilty verdict.

"There is an image issue that Martin and I are going to be discussing in the next several days."

But Shkreli says he's not going to change.

"Ben probably wants me to act and look like your average CEO, but I'm a very individualistic person and I don't sort of conform to what folks want me to do and not want me to do, and that's what being an individual is all about," he said.

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