Verdict Reached in Martin Shkreli Case
08/31/2017 03:57 pm EDT
Martin Shkreli, the man who was labeled the "Pharma bro" and has found himself referred to as the "most hated CEO in America" has been convicted in the federal case against him that had been ongoing.
According to TMZ, Shkreli has been found guilty of securities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
The charges against him stem from when he was the head of Retrophin, a drug company, as well as a series of hedge funds he was managing at the time.
While he was found guilty on three charges, he was also not convicted on five other charges, which included wire fraud.
It was back in 2015 when Shkreli was first arrested after he was accused of trying to repay millions of dollars in investor money by offering them stock in a new drug company start-up.
During the trial, his defense lawyer attempted to paint him as innocent based on the fact that they claimed many of the investors opted into the deal and received a big payday from it. They argued that just because people may not like him, that doesn't automatically make him a "Ponzi guy."
The same year he was arrested, Shkreli made headlines by increasing the cost of Daraprim, an AIDS medication, by 5,000%. This caused the price of the drug to jump to $750 per pill.
After the guilty verdict was handed down, Shkreli said, "This was a witch hunt of epic proportions."
He faces upwards of 20 years behind bars for the three convictions
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