Former CEO Martin Shkreli Muzzled By New Lawyer, Agrees To Stop Speaking In Court
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Bad-boy ex-pharmaceutical company CEO and prolific social media user Martin Shkreli has been muzzled.
A new lawyer in a federal securities fraud case against Shkreli told reporters outside court on Wednesday that his client would stop speaking out in his own defense until the charges are resolved.
"We want to try this case in the courtroom and not in the media,'' defense attorney Benjamin Brafman said with a silent Shkreli at his side following a pretrial hearing in Brooklyn. "If required to appear before a congressional committee tomorrow, on the advice of council Mr. Shkreli will invoke his Fifth Amendment privileges against self-incrimination and will not be answering any questions."
Shkreli, 32, gained notoriety last year after a drug company he founded, Turing Pharmaceuticals, spent $55 million for the U.S. rights to sell a life-saving medicine called Daraprim and promptly raised the price from $13.50 to $750 per pill.
CBS News reports lawmakers are unlikely to hold back their views on the former CEO. One Democrat already released a memo quoting excerpts from Shkreli's emails in which he displayed "near glear" anticipating windfall from the drug's price increase.
The spotlight intensified last year when he was arrested on charges related to a hedge fund he once ran. Prosecutors allege that after he lost investors' money through bad trades, he looted Retrophin, another pharmaceutical company where he was CEO, for $11 million to pay back his disgruntled clients.
Since the arrest, Shkreli has frequently turned to social media and news outlets to lash out at his accusers. In a TV interview this week about his expected appearance before a congressional committee investigating the price of drugs, he said he'd like to "berate'' and "insult'' Congress, but instead will take the Fifth Amendment.
On Wednesday, a prosecutor told the judge that the value of a brokerage account used to secure Shkreli's release on $5 million bond -- mostly invested in a biotech business once operated by Shkreli -- had declined, and that more collateral may be needed if it goes down any further. Brafman said it wasn't surprising the account took a hit.
"There's nothing like an indictment to affect shares of stock,'' he said.
Shkreli's other assets most notably include the only copy of a Wu-Tang Clan album titled "Once Upon a Time in Shaolin,'' which the hip-hop group sold on the condition that it not be released publicly. He said he paid $2 million for it.
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