Pharma Bro Shkreli Gets Locked Up Over Bizarre Facebook Stunt
September 14, 2017
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
NEW YORK – Martin Shkreli’s Internet trolling finally got the best of him and this morning he wakes up behind the bars of a jail cell.
On Wednesday, a federal judge revoked Shkreli’s $5 million bail following an Internet prank where he urged his Facebook followers to acquire strands of Hillary Clinton’s hair while she tours the country promoting her latest book. According to the Washington Post, Shkreli offered up to $5,000 for a lock of her hair. In addition to that bizarre stunt that garnered the attention of the U.S. Secret Service, Shkreli also used his online platform to harass several women, according to allegations made by prosecutors.
His antics drew enough attention that prosecutors told the judge Shkreli, who was convicted of defrauding investors earlier this year, was a danger to the community and requested he remain behind bars until his sentencing.
Shkreli’s lawyers tried in vain to keep him out of jail. They argued that Shkreli says things online that are stupid” but that doesn’t mean he is violent.
Shkreli did apologize to the court. In a letter to the judge, Shkreli said he did not expect people to take his online trolling seriously.
U.S. District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto though took him seriously. Matsumoto said the fact that Shkreli is oblivious to the “inappropriateness of his actions or words demonstrates to me that he may be creating ongoing risk to the community,” the Post reported. Matsumoto went on to say that calling for hair from the former presidential candidate and U.S. Secretary of State is a “solicitation of assault” and is not protected by the First Amendment.
Shkreli has been sent to a maximum security prison, according to the Post. Such a prison cell is far from the Manhattan lifestyle he knew. In August, he was found guilty on two charges of securities fraud and one charge of conspiracy to commit conspiracy fraud. He will be sentenced for those charges in January.
This is not the first time Shkreli targeted Clinton with his antics. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Shkreli heckled the Democratic candidate while she battled pneumonia. During a memorial service on the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, Clinton was ushered out of the service and taken to her daughter’s apartment after she became “overheated” and nearly collapsed from the illness. She was taken to her daughter’s apartment in New York and Shkreli was one of those who gathered outside. Using his mobile phone, he live-streamed from outside the apartment shouting questions such as “are you alive?” at the building. He also suggested that the building Clinton was in was not an apartment complex, but a medical facility and told his Twitter followers (before his account was suspended) that Clinton was receiving medical treatments. On his Twitter feed, Shkreli posted multiple memes about Clinton, calling into question her health and giving credence, or just showing off his online trolling abilities, sharing the conspiracy of the use of a body double for the presidential candidate. He also said on Twitter that overheating is a “common problem with robots.”