Martin Shkreli, NYC Pharma Bro, Convicted Of Defrauding Investors

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN, NY — Martin Shkreli, the widely loathed NYC pharma bro who once jacked up the price of a life-saving AIDS drug by 5,000 percent — then bragged about it — has been convicted of defrauding investors in Brooklyn Federal Court.

The 34-year-old CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals pleaded "not guilty" in December 2015. He could now spend up to 20 years in prison.

The jury deliberated for five days before finding Shkreli guilty of three of the eight counts against him: securities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

According to prosecutors, Shkreli lied to investors about the status of their money — once claiming he had $40 million in the bank when he had only $300 — after he blew the cash on bad stock picks. He was convicted Friday of using this shady, Ponzi-style scheme to steal more than $11 million from hedge fund investors.

Several financiers from Texas stood up for him during the trial, testifying that Shkreli had doubled or tripled their initial investment when his company’s stock went public.

In the end, though, their testimony wasn't enough to sway the jury.

One of the biggest hurdles Shkreli faced in the courtroom was his own reputation. At peak villain, in 2014, the biotech entrepreneur bought the rights to a life-saving drug — then quickly jacked up its price from $13.50 to $750 per pill. Then, instead of apologizing, he bragged about it. (And never changed back the price.)

In the aftermath of the scandal, Shkreli — a native of Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn — exploited his newfound infamy to stage a series of egomaniacal antics in front of a global audience, including the time he bought the only copy of the new Wu-Tang Clan album for $2 million and the time he offered to post Bobby Shmurda's bail.

So it's no surprise the Big Pharma boss didn't find much pity among his public when, on Dec. 16, 2015, he got an ominous call from a "special agent" during one of his late-night live video chats.

Hours later, the FBI stormed his Midtown Manhattan apartment and arrested him for fraud.

Shkreli didn’t testify on his own behalf during his Brooklyn trial. He did, however, use social media to badmouth prosecutors and news outlets who covered his court appearances — pushing the judge to the point where she had to warn Shkreli keep his mouth shut.

“My case is a silly witch hunt perpetrated by self-serving prosecutors,” Shkreli wrote in one of his online rants. “Drain the swamp. Drain the sewer that is the [Department of Justice.]”

Twitter users — including Sen. Bernie Sanders — responded to the news of Shkreli's conviction Friday with ire and, in some cases, not-so-subtle mockery.

Martin Shkreli's court room sketch is me when the microwave beeps and the hot pockets are ready pic.twitter.com/2bckcCWznw
— Bob Bryan (@RobertBryan4) August 4, 2017

I hope they surprise Shkreli and increase his sentence by 5000% overnight
— Orli Matlow (@HireMeImFunny) August 4, 2017

Patch reporter Simone Wilson and the Associated Press contributed to this report. Photo by Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images