Pharma Bro Martin Shkreli Was A Huge Brat In Front Of Congress

Martin Shkreli, the frat-boy pharmaceutical executive who made news for price-gouging HIV patients, went in front of Congress to defend himself against charges of fraud on Thursday. It did not go well. According to NBC News, Shkreli smirked, rolled his eyes, and appeared to be on the verge of laughter throughout the hearing. He invoked his Fifth Amendment rights and refused to respond to questions, saying that he would take his counsel's advice and "not yours." His behavior was more reminiscent of a seventh-grade class clown than someone defending himself before Congress. At one point, Representative Elijah Cummings of Maryland even asked, “Mr Shkreli, are you listening?” “Yes sir,” Shkreli answered with a smirk. His attitude was so egregiously bad when he was asked to comment on the victims of his profit lust, that Cummings yelled at him on the floor. “It’s not funny, Mr. Shkreli. People are dying." Shkreli later called the Congress members “imbeciles” on Twitter, and added that he’d had his lawyers produce a memo on facial expressions during Congressional testimony.

Shkreli was arrested in December on charges of securities fraud. He allegedly ran multiple companies like a Ponzi scheme, pulling assets from one to fund another. After his arrest, a GiveForward page was started to crowdfund his bail. The page received more offers to pay the single donor to retract his or her money than it got in actual donations.