NEW YORK (AP) — Federal prosecutors told a judge on Tuesday that "Pharma Bro" Martin Shkreli should get 15 years behind bars for cheating wealthy investors in his failed hedge funds — a sentence 10 times what his defense says he deserves.
The recommendation in a filing in federal court in Brooklyn came after lawyers for the convicted former pharmaceutical company CEO sought to portray him as a misunderstood eccentric who never meant any harm to investors. They argued he should get credit for making the investors whole by giving them stock in a successful drug company and that no more than 18 months in prison would be appropriate.
Shkreli himself has asked U.S. District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto for leniency at a sentencing set for Friday, writing in a letter to the court, "I was wrong. I was a fool. I should have known better."
Prosecutors called the portrayal misleading for an unrepentant fraudster who stole from investors for personal needs and repeatedly lied to them to cover it up.
"It does not accurately reflect who he truly is — a man who stands before this court without any showing of genuine remorse, a man who has consistently chosen to put profit and the cultivation of a public image before all else and a man who believes the ends always justify the means," they wrote.
