Martin Shkreli, the infamous hedge fund supervillain who was convicted of defrauding investors out of tens of millions of dollars, had his bail revoked by a judge on Wednesday (September 13th), citing his social media antics that, according to The Washington Post, posed a "danger to the community."
Prosecutors are arguing that, while awaiting sentencing for his crimes, Shkreli has been harassing women online and, in a recent Facebook post, was even offering $5,000 for a strand of Hillary Clinton's hair. He apologized in writing after the fact, saying that he didn't think that anyone would take his comments seriously. His attorneys asked the judge to give him another chance, but to no avail. "The fact that he continues to remain unaware of the inappropriateness of his actions or words demonstrates to me that he may be creating ongoing risk to the community,” U.S. District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto stated, reversing the bond that had previously been posted. The reasoning is that the act of making such comments on social media was a solicitation of assault, which is not protected by the first amendment, according to the judge.
The original report that states that his 70,000 Facebook followers "do not take his statements seriously." Shkreli's lawyer Benjamin Brafman added that, “Being inappropriate does not make you a danger to the community.” Your mileage may vary with a statement like that, but there's no denying that this is just the latest chapter in what has been a pattern of overtly inappropriate behavior for Shkreli. Known primarily as the man who raised the price of an AIDS drug by 5,000 percent, he was later convicted by a Brooklyn jury of defrauding the investors in his hedge funds. He also famously purchased the Wu-Tang Clan album Once Upon A Time In Shaolin for a reported $2 million and, just last week, had put the item up for sale on eBay. The former pharmaceutical industry figure looks like he'll take a pretty big hit on the original price he paid for the album, with the bidding currently stalled at just over a million dollars for the Wu's one-off release.
