Martin Shkreli, the 34-year-old CEO who was named “the most hated man in America” after raising the cost of AIDS medication by 5,000%, is now a convicted felon. Early Friday morning Shkreli was sentenced to 7 years in prison and ordered to pay $7.4 million to his fraud victims.
In December, 2015, Shkreli was arrested and charged with securities fraud following an investigation into his “Ponzi-like” scheme while serving as the CEO of the biotechnology firm Retrophin. Shkreli made headlines earlier that same year after he obtained the manufacturing license for Daraprim, an AIDS medication, and raised its cost from $13.50 to $750 per pill.
The judge handed a box of tissues to Shkreli, who was openly sobbing during the hearing. “I’m here because of my gross, stupid negligent mistakes,” he was reported to say according to Inside Edition.
According to the US Department of Justice, the prosecution proved
that Shkreli “engaged in multiple schemes to ensnare investors through a web of lies and deceit.”
The federal government has been authorized to seize Shkreli’s assets including a Picasso painting, a $2 million Wu-Tang Clan album, and an unreleased Lil Wayne Album to help cover the cost of his $7.4 million payout. It is not yet clear whether Shkreli had a choice in selecting which assets would be seized.
Shkreli was convicted in August, 2017. He made a video of himself drinking beer and listening to his Wu-Tang album shortly after the conviction.