Martin Shkreli has been found guilty of fraud and could face several years in prison.
The pharmaceutical CEO first gained notoriety after hiking the price of drug Daraprim – used to treat AIDS and cancer patients – from $13.50 to $750 for a single pill in 2015.
He also purchased the only existing copy of Wu-Tang Clan’s ‘The Wu – Once Upon A Time In Shaolin’ for $2 million. Last year, he claimed to have bought Lil Wayne‘s ‘Tha Carter V’ and in May 2017 leaked an unreleased track from the rapper, which featured Kendrick Lamar.
Shkreli has been convicted on three of the eight charges he was facing today (August 4), including securities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud in relation to two hedge funds he ran. He was also accused of illegaly using his pharmaceutical company Retrophin to repay defrauded investors.
The trial, which was held at the Federal District Court in Brooklyn, lasted five weeks, as the New York Times reports. Shkreli could have faced up to 20 years in prison if convicted of all eight charges against him, but will likely face a lot less. Before the trial, he had said he was “so innocent” the judge, jury and prosecutors would apologise to him afterwards.
“When you lie to people knowingly and intentionally to get their money, it’s a crime,” federal prosecutor Jacquelyn Kasulis told jurors in her closing arguments last week (July 28). “And that is exactly what Martin Shkreli did. He knowingly lied over and over again to his investors.
“Mr. Shkreli is a smart man. He knew exactly what he was doing.”
Shkreli will be sentenced at a later date, which is yet to be announced.