Last month, pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli was found guilty of fraud in federal court, and many saw it as a finely served dish of hot karma. Shkreli was dubbed “the most hated man in America” after his company raised the price of Daraprim, a life-saving AIDS drug, from $13.50 a pill to $750 a pill after acquiring its marketing rights.
Shkreli was free after posting $5 million bail while awaiting a sentence of up to 20 years, but his bail was revoked Wednesday by a federal judge for being a “real danger.” On Sept. 4, 2017, Shkreli wrote a Facebook post where he threatened former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton by placing a bounty on her hair. “So on HRC’s book tour, try to grab a hair from her,” Shkreli wrote to his followers. “I must confirm the sequencing I have. Will pay $5,000 per hair obtained from Hillary Clinton. Payment after the sequence matches. Good luck patrollers.”
Prosecutors saw the threat as part of a pattern of harassment by Shkreli. Last year, at a 9/11 memorial service, Clinton fell ill and collapsed. So Shkreli, an ardent Donald Trump supporter, stood outside her Manhattan apartment and live-streamed himself heckling her. Prosecutors argued his actions violate federal and state laws prohibiting threats against the immediate family members of former presidents, and Clinton is the wife of president Bill Clinton.
Now, Shkreli is inmate #87850-053 in the general population at the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center. While he awaits sentencing, Shkreli will have the pleasure of mingling with drug dealers, suspected gang members, bank robbers, and financial criminals. Shkreli’s threats against Clinton may affect the severity of his sentencing, according to former federal prosecutor Sarah Walters. “The judge has already interpreted Shkreli’s behavior as violent and the public needs to be protected from him,” Waters told CNN. “That is a factor that could lead to an increase in his sentence.”
