Despite his lawyers’ best efforts, Martin Shkreli is heading to a federal prison.
Last month, the disgraced pharmaceutical CEO Martin Shkreli was sentenced to seven years in prison after being convicted of security and wire fraud. According to CNBC, his attorney, Benjamin Brafman, had requested that Shkreli spend his sentence at Canaan US Penitentiary in Waymart, Pennsylvania. The camp is considered safer for inmates, and a relatively more pleasant place to serve a sentence, than facilities with higher levels of security, as CNBC notes.
Judge Kiyo Matsumoto denied the request, however, citing Shkreli’s behavior during the trial. Instead, Shkreli is heading to Fort Dix Federal Correctional Institution, a federal prison in Fort Dix, New Jersey. There, he’ll join fellow inmates including serial child molester Richard Goldberg; terrorist David Headley; and Casey Fury, who set fire to a US submarine in 2012.
In August of 2017, Shkreli was convicted on three of the eight charges brought against him by federal prosecutors, which included securities fraud and conspiracy to commit both securities fraud and wire fraud. Prosecutors accused Shkreli of taking stock from his biotechnology firm Retrophin and using it to pay off debts from unrelated business dealings.
Prior to sentence, Shrkeli sobbed and begged the judge for “your honor’s mercy,” according to ABC News. “The only person to blame for me being here is me,” he said. “There is no government conspiracy to take down Martin Shkreli. I took down Martin Shkreli with my disgraceful and shameful actions.”
Additionally, Shkreli has been ordered to forfeit more than $7.3 million in personal assets, including his one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album, Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, which he purchased in 2015 for $2 million.
