He was arrested and convicted of lying to and defrauding investors, but Martin Shkreli is asking the courts to let him out of prison temporarily so he can develop a treatment for COVID-19.
Shkreli, also known as “Pharma Bro,” plans to tell federal authorities through his attorney that he would like to be released for three months under strict supervision to do lab work on a coronavirus treatment, The Associated Press reported.
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“I have always said that if focused and left in a lab, Martin could help cure cancer,” his attorney Ben Brafman said in a statement to the AP. “Maybe he can help the scientific community better understand this terrible virus.”
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Shkreli said that the pharmaceutical industry has had an inadequate response to the pandemic and that every drug company should be working to end the outbreak.
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Not only was Shkreli convicted of lying to investors about hedge funds performance, withdrawing more money than he should have been entitled to and defrauding investors by hiding ownership of stocks, he first was known for buying the rights to a drug and raising the price from $13.50 to $750 a pill, the AP reported.
He was told to forfeit $7.3 million for his 2018 conviction.
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