{"id":104633,"date":"2021-01-19T17:50:45","date_gmt":"2021-01-19T17:50:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/?p=104633"},"modified":"2021-01-19T17:50:45","modified_gmt":"2021-01-19T17:50:45","slug":"u-s-judge-rejects-pharma-bro-shkrelis-bid-for-compassionate-release-from-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/markets\/u-s-judge-rejects-pharma-bro-shkrelis-bid-for-compassionate-release-from-prison\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. judge rejects 'Pharma Bro' Shkreli's bid for compassionate release from prison"},"content":{"rendered":"
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A federal judge rejected former pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli\u2019s request to be freed from prison, rejecting his claim that his deteriorating mental health justified compassionate release.<\/p> U.S. District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto in Brooklyn said Shkreli, who claimed his mental health has \u201ctaken a steep toll,\u201d failed to offer \u201cextraordinary and compelling reasons\u201d to be released.<\/p>\n Benjamin Brafman, a lawyer for Shkreli, declined to comment on the Jan. 16 decision.<\/p>\n Shkreli, 37, who has asthma, has served about half of his seven-year sentence for securities fraud and conspiracy at a low-security prison in Allenwood, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n He claimed that tighter confinement conditions to combat COVID-19, including limited contact with others and a diet heavy on peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches, has weakened his immune system and increased his risk of contracting the disease.<\/p>\n Shkreli also said he has been unable to effectively defend against a civil lawsuit where the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and seven states said he tried to block generic versions of the lifesaving drug Daraprim.<\/p>\n But the judge said mental health disorders are not a risk factor for COVID-19, and a mental health expert found Shkreli \u201cstable.\u201d<\/p>\n Matsumoto also said that \u201calthough litigating from prison may be more difficult, it is far from impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n Shkreli is eligible for release in September 2023.<\/p>\n Nicknamed \u201cPharma Bro,\u201d Shkreli was convicted in 2017 for cheating investors in two hedge funds and trying to prop up the stock price of a biotechnology company he ran.<\/p>\n He was widely vilified for boosting the price of Daraprim, which treats a potentially fatal infection known as toxoplasmosis, by more than 4,000% overnight to $750 from $17.50 when he ran another company, Turing Pharmaceuticals.<\/p>\n Turing was later renamed Vyera Pharmaceuticals. Vyera, now part of Phoenixus AG, is also a defendant in the FTC case.<\/p>\n