Martin Shkreli, the pharmaceutical boss dubbed “the world’s most hated man” after he increased the price of a HIV-related drug by 5,000%, was on Thursday told he will face trial for fraud.
As he walked out of court , Shkreli had something more pressing on his mind. He asked his lawyer: “Can I play Pokémon Go now?” according to a New York Daily News reporter who overheard the question.
Shkreli, who hit the headlines last year after he hiked the price a life-saving drug often given to people with HIV or cancer from $13.50 to $750 a pill, is accused of defrauding investors in hedge funds he ran.
US district judge Kiyo Matsumoto set the trial for 26 June 2017, after Shkreli’s high-profile lawyer Ben Brafman asked for the trial to be delayed due to complex motions he planned.
“We’re not just going to be sitting on a beach waiting for the June trial date,” said Brafman, who has represented celebrities including Sean “Diddy” Combs, Jay Z, Michael Jackson, Mafia boss Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano and former International Monetary Fund boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
Shkreli, 33, who was dubbed a “pharma bro” and “the poster boy of greed” over his actions as chief executive of pharmaceutical company Turing, arrived at Brooklyn federal court in a gray blazer, pale blue shirt and khaki trousers.
The fraud case is unrelated to the price gouging of Daraprim, a drug used to treat potentially deadly parasitic infections often affecting people with compromised immune systems. The same drug is made by many generic drug companies in India, where it can cost as little as 4 cents.
The drug is on the World Health Organisation’s list of essential medicines. Drugs on the list are defined as the “minimum medicine needs for a basic healthcare system”.
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