Controversial former drug company executive Martin Shkreli is to be jailed for offering a five thousand dollar reward for a strand of Hillary Clinton's hair
ADVERTISEMENTControversial former drug company executive Martin Shkreli has been jailed and his bail revoked for offering a five thousand dollar reward for a strand of Hillary Clinton’s hair. Shkreli was found guilty in August of defrauding investors of two hedge funds he ran, but remained free since his December 2015 arrest on a five million dollar bail while he awaited sentencing.
The offer in a Facebook post prompted an investigation by the U.S. Secret Service, which is charged with protecting the former Democratic presidential candidate.
Thirty-four-year-old Shreki, dubbed the ‘pharma bro’ after he previously increased the price of a life-saving drug by five thousand percent claimed that his post offering the money was ‘protected free speech’. This argument was rejected by the judge, who said that one of his ninety-three-thousand followers could have taken it seriously, making this ‘a solicitation of assault in exchange of money’ and he ‘was not protected by the First Amendment’.
The threat made shortly before Clinton embarked on a book tour, showed ‘he posed a danger to the public’.
His sentencing has been scheduled for January.