Pharma Bro jailed after judge declares him a ‘danger to society’

HE SWEARS it was just an “awkward attempt at humour or satire,” but a judge did’t buy it, calling Martin Shkreli a “danger to society”.

MARTIN Shkreli aka ‘Pharma Bro’ has been jailed over Facebook posts in which he offered $US5,000 in exchange for a strand of Hillary Clinton’s hair.

The convicted fraudster was declared a “danger to society” by a US federal judge on Wednesday and jailed over the provocative social media posts.

Despite a grovelling letter from the 34-year-old former pharmaceutical chief executive, in which he claimed that the social media status was an “awkward attempt at humour or satire,” Brooklyn federal court judge Kiyo Matsumoto revoked his $US5 million bond and ordered him thrown behind bars.

Prosecutors asked the judge to lock up Shkreli following a since-deleted Facebook status in which he told followers he’d pay $US5,000 for a strand of Clinton’s locks.

The creepy joke, the climax of a series of other postings in which he seemed to suggest he intended to clone the former Secretary of State, was scrubbed from his account after Shkreli was contacted by the secret service.

“On HRC’s book tour, try and grab a hair from her,” he wrote on September 4. “I must confirm the sequences I have. Will pay $5,000 per hair obtained from Hillary Clinton.”

Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is promoting her new book What Happened, about her 2016 election loss to President Donald Trump. Picture: Drew Angerer

In a September 12 letter to the court, Shkreli apologised for the status, which he called an “awkward attempt at humour or satire,” and said he never intended to “threaten” HRC.

But the judge wasn’t buying it, and ordered the marshals to take him into custody.

Shkreli was convicted of defrauding hedge fund investors in early August, and faces up to 20 years behind bars when sentenced.

Ahead of the trial, he was so hated that the judge had to discharge more than 200 jurors, who admitted to despising him over his actions as chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals.

Shkreli made headlines around the world as the “most hated man in America” after buying the rights to a lifesaving cancer and AIDS drug and jacking up the price by 5000 per cent.

In the hours after jurors returned the mixed verdict, he announced on a Facebook lifestream that prison — which he called “Club Fed” — wouldn’t be that bad.

“I’ll play basketball and tennis and Xbox,” he mused.

Shkreli will now languish in “Club Fed” for an untold period of time, as a sentencing date has yet to be set.

”F — the government,” Shkreli wrote on Facebook after prosecutors filed a motion asking the judge to revoke his hefty bond.

“I will never kiss their ring or snitch. Come at me with your hardest because I haven’t seen anything impressive yet.”

Originally published as Pharma Bro jailed after judge declares him a ‘danger to society’