Martin Shkreli may have gone too far posting a $5,000 bounty on Facebook for someone to "grab" hair from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Federal prosecutors now say the former pharmaceutical executive once dubbed "the most hated man in America" should be locked up immediately.
Shkreli, who was found guilty by a jury last month of defrauding investors in two hedge funds, has been out on bail awaiting his sentencing hearing. He’s engaged in a "pattern of threats and harassment” and his bail should be revoked, prosecutors told a Brooklyn, New York, federal judge in a filing Thursday.
“So on HRC’s book tour, try to grab a hair from her," Shkreli posted on his Facebook page on Sept. 4. "I must confirm the sequencing I have. Will pay $5,000 per hair obtained from Hillary Clinton. Payment after the sequence matches. Good luck patrollers."
Clinton is slated to appear at a Barnes & Noble bookstore in Union Square in New York City on Sept. 12, according to the store. A hearing on Shkreli’s bail is set for Sept. 14.
Shkreli, notorious for raising the price of the potentially life-saving drug Daraprim by 5,000 percent, faces as long as 20 years in prison, although he’s likely to serve much less. He was convicted of three of eight charges, including securities fraud. He was acquitted of fraud charges related to allegations that he looted his drug company to pay off his hedge-fund investors.
Prosecutors Jacquelyn Kasulis and Alixandra Smith argued Shkreli not only appears to have violated state and federal laws prohibiting threats against the immediate family members of former presidents, but that he also has a history of harassing specific women. They noted that in January he was banned from Twitter after he invited Teen Vogue writer Lauren Duca to be his date for the inauguration of President Donald Trump and later doctored photos of himself with her.
‘However Inappropriate’
“We take the matter seriously and intend to address the issue responsibly,” Benjamin Brafman, a lawyer for Shkreli, said in an email Thursday night. “However inappropriate some of Mr Shkreli’s postings may have been, we do not believe that he intended harm and do not believe that he poses a danger to the community.”
Several hours after Shkreli’s bounty offer for Hillary Clinton’s hair was reported by the media, he edited the Facebook post, saying it was "satire, meant for humor."