Martin Shkreli was remanded into custody on Wednesday after a judge revoked his bail.
Judge Kiyo Matsumoto refused Shkreli’s attorney’s pleas to give him just one more chance, which persisted even after she handed down her ruling. At one point, attorney Ben Brafman begged Matsumoto to put her ruling on ice for even a few more days while the defense prepared another motion to keep him free before sentencing.
Prosecutors asked for the 34-year-old "Pharma Bro" to be locked up as he awaits sentencing after he called on his followers to snip him some of Hillary Clinton’s hair.
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Shkreli has been out on $5 million bail ahead of, and during, his federal trial for securities fraud.
“Look: There is evidence that he continued to post under a different name after being banned from Twitter,” Matsumoto said. “Respectfully, I am applying the law to this set of facts the best I can.”
“Judge, we will do anything you ask,” Brafman said. “I’m asking you to give him another chance.”
Shkreli sat playing with his hands and occasionally whispering to his attorneys. His father sat in the first row watching.
Matsumoto set the sentencing for January 16.
A jury acquitted Shkreli on five of the eight counts he faced for charges stemming from allegedly lying to investors, and then stealing from another of his companies to pay them back.
But prosecutors said his escalating antics, including continued harassment of journalists and the offer of $5,000 for whoever would get him a lock of Hillary Clinton's hair from her book tour, were a step too far. (The Secret Service had to follow up on the remark.)
Shkreli apologized for his antics in a letter to the judge before the hearing.
He pleaded that it "never occurred" to him that the "awkward attempt at humor or satire would cause Mrs. Clinton or the Secret Service any distress,” he wrote, adding, "I used poor judgment.”
Meanwhile, his attorneys claimed that his distasteful comments were nonetheless constitutionally protected.
It's not the first time attorney Ben Brafman has had to rein in his unruly client. Shkreli continued his provocative antics throughout the trial, and at one point walked into an overflow room for the press to deride the prosecution as the "JV team." He also complained that one of the witnesses against him was not a victim.
Brafman pulled Shkreli out of the room.
Outside the courthouse that day, Shkreli responded when a reporter asked Brafman about his antics.
“He’ll do whatever he wants,” Shkreli said in the third-person.
“I would very much appreciate it if he did not talk to the press because sometimes he doesn’t have a filter,” Brafman fired back.
