Martin Shkreli (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty)
A standard, breathable ball gag costs about $10. Of course, if Martin Shkreli were selling it, it’d cost about $17,885.
But it seems like prosecutors in the Shkreli fraud trial would gladly pay that price just to shut the pharma douchebro up.
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Prosecutors have asked the judge to issue a gag order on Shkreli. Although he has been “banned” from Twitter, by Twitter, he is allegedly using other accounts to Tweet about the trial.
He’s also holding impromptu press conferences. From NBC News:
The request came after Shkreli walked into a courtroom full of reporters during a Friday lunch break in Brooklyn and shared his thoughts about the case. At one point, he called the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of New York “junior varsity,” according to accounts of several journalists who were there.
Shkreli also told reporters that he hadn’t prepared some of the internal documents that the government was using to try to prove he duped investors. And he derided a woman who’d testified against him, saying she couldn’t have been a victim of any crime because she ended up making money, CNBC reported.
Prosecutors are understandably worried that Shkreli’s statements will eventually get back to and poison the jury.
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Defending Shkreli is Benjamin Brafman, and his statement against the proposed gag order is fantastic:
Shkreli’s lawyer, Benjamin Brafman ─ who speculated in his opening statements that his client might be “just nuts” ─ responded by accusing the media of trying to “bait” his client, who he said was in a “frail emotional state” and trying to defend himself against “one-sided coverage.”
I’m not sure how “my client is frail, probably crazy, and easily tricked by the media” is an argument against a gag order, but there you go.
I don’t know if Shkreli’s talking is going to help him at trial. But I’m positive that given how Republicans think, he’s doing a good job of setting himself up for a serious run at the GOP nomination in 2024.
Prosecutors Ask Judge to Shut Martin Shkreli’s Mouth During Trial [NBC News]