Martin Shkreli, the eccentric former pharmaceutical CEO notorious for a price-gouging scandal and for his snide "Pharma Bro" persona on social media, was convicted Friday on federal charges he deceived investors in a pair of failed hedge funds, the AP reports. A jury deliberated five days before finding Shkreli guilty on three of eight counts. He had been charged with securities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Prosecutors had accused Shkreli of repeatedly misleading investors about what he was doing with their money. Mostly, he was blowing it with horrible stock picks, forcing him to cook up a scheme to recover millions in losses, they said.
Shkreli, 34, told "lies upon lies," including claiming he had $40 million in one of his funds at a time when it only had about $300 in the bank, Assistant US Attorney Alixandra Smith said in closing arguments. The trial "has exposed Martin Shkreli for who he really is—a con man who stole millions," added another prosecutor, Jacquelyn Kasulis. But the case was tricky for the government because investors, some wealthy financiers from Texas, testified at the trial and conceded that Shkreli's scheme actually succeeded in making them richer, in some cases doubling or even tripling their money on his company's stock when it went public. Shkreli came into the trial with a reputation for trolling critics on social media, live-streaming himself giving math lessons or petting his cat, and boasting about buying a one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album for $2 million. (More Martin Shkreli stories.)
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