Supreme Court denies ‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli’s fraud conviction appeal request
The Supreme Court on Monday denied “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli’s appeal request over his 2017 fraud conviction, effectively upholding his seven-year prison sentence.
The former pharmaceutical executive was convicted of securities fraud and conspiracy in 2017 for defrauding investors out of more than $10 million between 2009 and 2014 in what prosecutors called a Ponzi scheme. In 2018, he was sentenced to seven years in federal prison and was ordered to forfeit nearly $7.4 million in assets along with a $75,000 fine.
In June, Shkreli’s attorney Mark Baker requested a federal appeals court in New York overturn the conviction, arguing the jury was given wrong instructions about securities fraud. The court upheld the conviction.
Baker told CNN in an email on Monday he and Shkreli are “disappointed” by the Supreme Court’s decision.
“We always knew a cert petition was a long shot, but we gave it our all. Obviously we are still disappointed,” he said.
Shkreli sparked national outrage in 2015 while he was CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals and was dubbed “the most hated man in America” after increasing the cost of Daraprim, a drug used by AIDS patients, by more than 5000% from $13.50 to $750 a pill.
Shkreli’s sentence was not related to his time at Turing. The charges and conviction dealt with his time as CEO of Retrophin, a different biotech company that ousted him in 2014.
