SCOTUS Takes a Pass on 'Pharma Bro' Martin Shkreli's Appeal
Martin Shkreli, convicted of securities fraud, was CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, when sudden increases in the price of lifesaving drugs attracted media coverage and questions from Congress.
November 18, 2019 at 02:20 PM
2 minute read
The original version of this story was published on Law.com
The U.S. Supreme Court will not hear an appeal from disgraced pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli, according to an order released by the justices Monday.
Shkreli's 2017 conviction on securities fraud and conspiracy charges was upheld in a summary order from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in July.
In 2018, a judge in the Eastern District of New York sentenced Shkreli to seven years in prison and ordered him to pay fines and restitution and to forfeit more than $7.3 million, which prosecutors said he'd acquired through a Ponzi-like scheme in his two hedge funds.
He is currently imprisoned in central Pennsylvania, according to federal prison records.
His petition for certiorari centered on the district judge's jury instruction about whether Shkreli believed "no ultimate harm" would come from his actions. Shkreli's lawyers asked the court to consider whether that instruction was appropriate for a securities fraud case and to reevaluate whether Shkreli's forfeiture amount was calculated correctly.
The Second Circuit rejected similar arguments on his appeal there.
Shkreli gained notoriety as the "pharma bro" when he was CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, where sudden increases in the price of lifesaving drugs attracted media coverage and questions from Congress. He also bought the single extant copy of a Wu-Tang Clan album, an unreleased Lil Wayne album and a Pablo Picasso painting.
Notoriety is "never helpful," Shkreli's lawyer Benjamin Brafman of Brafman & Associates wrote in a statement about the Supreme Court's decision Monday.
"We are disappointed by the court's decision and continue to maintain that Martin was never treated fairly by any of the courts that have reviewed his case," Brafman wrote. "Unfortunately there is often a price to pay for notoriety. It is never helpful."
A spokesman in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York declined to comment.
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