NEW YORK _ Businessman Martin Shkreli, once dubbed the "most hated man in America" for raising prices for critical drugs, was found guilty Friday of two counts of securities fraud and one of conspiracy in a federal court in Brooklyn.
The baby-faced and gutter-mouthed 34-year-old, often known as "Pharma Bro," had been charged with eight counts of securities fraud and conspiracy to commit both securities and wire fraud. He was found innocent on five of the charges.
Prosecutors said Shkreli ran what was effectively a Ponzi scheme, defrauding investors by exaggerating his own credentials _ for example, claiming that he attended Columbia University. He used their money to capitalize a new drug company, Retrophin, which he then looted to pay them back.
During closing arguments, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacquelyn Kasulis said the four-week trial had "exposed Shkreli for who he really is _ a conman who stole millions of dollars."
"It's time ... for Martin Shkreli to be held responsible for his choices. His choices to lie, deceive and steal," she said.
The charges carry up to a 20-year prison term.
During the trial, defense lawyers countered that the wealthy individuals who invested with Shkreli ended up profiting, even if Shkreli was sometimes loose with the facts.
"He's not a Ponzi guy that takes the money and is buying Cadillacs and yachts," said defense attorney Benjamin Brafman. "No one who invested with Martin Shkreli ever suffered any economic harm."
He acknowledged, however, his client's quarrelsome personality. "In terms of people skills, he's impossible," said Brafman.
Testimony revealed an eccentric workaholic who spent nights in his office in a sleeping bag and rarely brushed his teeth. One investor said Shkreli reminded him of the Dustin Hoffman character in "Rain Man." Investors urged him to improve his personal hygiene and to get off of Twitter, where he ultimately ended up being banned for trolling a journalist.
Shkreli gained notoriety in 2015 by hiking the price of the anti-parasite drug Daraprim by more than 5,000 percent while running another drug company, Turing Pharmaceuticals. He was dubbed afterward "the most hated man in America."
Although the trial had nothing to do with the drug price controversy, lawyers had to question 300 potential jurors over three days before they were able to seat a panel.
