'He was born this way': Martin Shkreli's attorney offers defense as securities-fraud trial opens

[Eugene]

Source: Washington Post

By Renae Merle June 28 at 6:18 PM

NEW YORK — Martin Shkreli is odd, his attorney told a federal court on Wednesday. The former hedge-fund manager’s investors and colleagues made fun of him behind his back and wondered whether he was autistic. Some questioned his sexuality, the jury was told.

“Is he strange? Yes. Will you find him weird? Yes,” said Shkreli attorney Benjamin Brafman. “But (his investors) used his genius and made millions. . . . Despite his flaws and dysfunctional personality, Martin Shkreli is brilliant beyond words.”

Shkreli, best known for raising the price of Daraprim — a 62-year-old drug primarily used to treat newborns and HIV patients — from $13.50 to $750 a pill, went on trial Wednesday for allegedly defrauding investors. After struggling for more than two days to seat a jury, Shkreli’s attorney spoke directly to the Brooklyn native’s reputation as the worst of Wall Street.

“As Lady Gaga would say: He was born this way,” Brafman said.

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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2017/06/28/he-was-born-this-way-martin-shkrelis-attorney-offers-defense-as-securities-trial-opens/

[unblock]

1. oh i'm quite sure lady gaga is thrilled to be used as part of his defense...!

[cstanleytech]

2. "But what he did was not illegal. It was capitalism at work." It wasnt capitalism to embezzle money.

[chowder66]

3. affluenza defense nt

[iluvtennis]

4. Yep, just shameful..Hope the jury doesn't fall for it.

[chowder66]

5. I don't have a lot of faith in juries lately. Hope you are right. nt

[rpannier]

6. So is a sociopath, a psychopath, most serial killers...

You really want to go down that road

[angstlessk]

7. If he was born that way, I feel for his poor mother...

...he must have suckled the pure life out of her as an infant!

[MontanaMama]

8. I really don't care how briliant

this asshole is. Brilliance doesn't mean jack when he intentionally hurt people and may have killed them as a result of his greed. Fuck this guy. My guess is that Lady Gaga will have something similar to say.

[harun]

17. Agree. If he is so damn brilliant how has he used that brilliance to help people other than

"shareholders"?

Answer is he hasn't.

They just needed a psychopath to hike their drug prices and take all the heat, something this dude was willing to do.

[Plucketeer]

9. A boil on the ass of humanity

Festering, ugly and a nuisance. Lance that thing!

[7962]

10. people made money following him, but he was hurting millions of others;

the way he would short a stock & then announce "problems" with the company, knowing all his minions would do their OWN shorting.
Short selling should be illegal. If you think a company is overpriced, buy put options.

[MrScorpio]

11. He's an asshole

A greedy asshole

[Cryptoad]

12. Is him and Trump kin????

both have the same shit eating grin!!!!!!

[Skittles]

13. there is nothing wrong with being strange and weird

there is definitely something wrong when you extort money from desperately ill people

[Judi Lynn]

14. He wasn't born having power to destroy lives. It took time for him to murder his conscience.

?ve=1&tl=1

[Javaman]

15. Psychopath: nature. Sociopath: nurture.

not a really good defense by his lawyer.

[noneof_theabove]

16. Born this way...

I'll give that a up thumb....

as a slimy turd from his mother's ass.

[hamsterjill]

18. I don't care if I would find him "weird"

I know greed and lack of empathy for fellow humans when I see it. This guy knew what he was doing and enjoyed doing it. I hope he goes to jail for the maximum sentence allowed. He can use his "character traits" to survive prison life.

[gilligan]

19. Now we know

Now we know DICKS are born that way.
Well that explains the males in the Republican party.

[Orrex]

20. Some people are punchable from the moment of their birth

Martin Shkreli is such a person.

[IronLionZion]

21. A lot of people think of themselves as brilliant

when really they are just plain evil and taking advantage of people.

These types tend to look down on others as stupid suckers for doing the right thing or being good to other people.

I bet many of the worst sociopaths were born this way. He belongs in prison, in general population with people who may have loved ones who depend on the drugs to live.

[world wide wally]

22. Like Trump, not having a conscience does NOT make these assholes intelligent.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

23. Ah, the classic Lady Gaga defense. nt