Martin Shkreli: jury to consider fate of 'most hated man in America'

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Martin Shkreli: jury to consider fate of 'most hated man in America'

Shkreli, known for hiking price of life-saving Aids drug, faces securities fraud charges that could lead to 20-year sentence in a case he calls a ‘witch-hunt’

Joanna Walters
Monday 31 July 2017 10.00 BST

A jury will begin deliberations on Monday in the trial on securities fraud charges against the entrepreneur Martin Shkreli, who faces up to 20 years in prison.

The 34-year-old gained notoriety in 2015, when he purchased the commercial rights and then ruthlessly increased the cost of Daraprim, a life-saving Aids medication. Since then, he has maintained his reputation with a provocative presence on social media. This year he was suspended from Twitter, for harassing the journalist Lauren Duca.

As arguments wrapped up in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, Shkreli, known to many as “the most hated man in America”, was accused by government prosecutors of telling “lies upon lies” to investors and regarding himself as “above the law”. Shkreli’s lawyer told the jury his client was a genius and a target for “rich person ‘BS’”.

In terminology reminiscent of one of his idols, Donald Trump, Shkreli used Facebook to tell his fans he was the victim of a witch-hunt.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jul/31/martin-shkreli-trial-fraud-charges-jury-deliberations

[gratuitous]

1. Off with his head

The defense rests.

[Doodley]

2. The jury to consider the fate of Donald Trump?

[smirkymonkey]

3. Ohhhh, another snowflake whiner who thinks he's the victim of a

"witch hunt"! Who does that sound like? Waaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh! Everybody's picking on me! It's so unfaiiiiirrr!