Shkreli Has `No Respect Whatsoever' for the Law, Prosecutor Says

(Bloomberg) -- Martin Shkreli “has no respect whatsoever for the law,” a federal prosecutor told the judge during the sentencing hearing of the disgraced former pharmaceutical executive.

U.S. District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto is hearing arguments in Brooklyn, New York, Friday on how long Shkreli, 34, should spend in prison after being convicted of securities fraud. The U.S. says he deserves to spend at least 15 years behind bars. The defense is seeking about a year.

The proposed 15-year term is based on Shkreli’s conviction as well as the massive loss of money and that it wasn’t an isolated event, prosecutor Jacquelyn Kasulis told the judge. “This was four different fraud schemes over the course of five years.”

She also pushed back against the defense’s portrayal of Shkreli as simply young and impetuous.

“Mr. Shkreli is about turn 35 years old,” she said. “He is a man who needs to take responsibility for his actions.”

As for the defense attorney’s suggestion that the world shouldn’t be deprived of Shkreli’s drug-industry genius, Kasulis cited Shkreli’s infamous price hike as evidence that’s he’s not altruistic.

“It is an insult to the doctors and scientists who have spent their whole lives trying to cure these diseases without trying to line their own pockets in the process."

To contact the reporters on this story: Erik Larson in New York at elarson4@bloomberg.net, Patricia Hurtado in Federal Court in Brooklyn at pathurtado@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Heather Smith at hsmith26@bloomberg.net, Andrew Dunn

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.