NEW YORK (WABC/WCBS/CNN) - Hours after leaving a courthouse, Martin Shkreli cracked open a beer and made predictions with his internet fans about the punishment he could face on three federal fraud convictions.
“I don’t think I’m going to prison, by the way,” Shkreli said in a streaming video. “Just so you know.”
The FBI accused 34-year-old Shkreli of operating a Ponzi scheme, cheating investors out of millions by mismanaging money at hedge funds he ran. After five days of deliberations, a New York jury found Shkreli guilty on less than half the charges.
The most serious count was securities fraud.
“This was a witch hunt of epic proportions, and maybe they found one or two broomsticks, but at the end of the day we’ve been acquitted of the most important charges in this case,” Shkreli told reporters outside the courthouse.
This wasn’t the first time Shkreli called his case a witch hunt. During the trial, he posted to Facebook, “My case is a silly witch hunt perpetrated by self-serving prosecutors.”
He ended that post with, “Drain the swamp. Drain the sewer that is the DOJ. MAGA,” a reference to President Trump’s slogan, “Make America Great Again.”
In January, the “pharma bro,” as Shkreli nicknamed himself, was kicked off Twitter and Periscope for making unwanted advances toward an editor. When asked about his continued social media use, his lawyers said they were having ongoing discussions about that.
“Martin is a brilliant young man, but sometimes people skills don’t translate well,” said Shkreli’s lawyer, Benjamin Brafman.
Shkreli first gained notoriety two years ago when he hiked the price of a life-saving drug for AIDS patients by more than 5,000 percent. He was dubbed “the most hated man in America,” though that incident had no relation to the case.
Shkreli could get up to 20 years in jail for his most serious charge, securities fraud. His sentencing date has not been set yet.
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