‘Pharma bro’ Martin Shkreli is jailed, after offering US$5,000 bounty on hair from Hillary Clinton

A judge jailed former pharmaceuticals company CEO Martin Shkreli on Wednesday after finding that he violated his bail on a securities fraud conviction with a social media posting she agreed posed a threat to Hillary Clinton.

Defence attorneys had argued at a hearing in federal court in Brooklyn that the post by Shkreli, offering a US$5,000 bounty to anyone who could grab him one of Clinton’s hairs while she’s on a book tour, was political satire. But US District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto didn’t see the humour, saying the offer could be taken seriously by fellow Clinton detractors.

The Clinton offer could be viewed as “a solicitation of an assault,” the judge said before revoking Shkreli’s $5 million bail.

“This is not protected by the First Amendment,” the judge said. “ ... There’s a risk that somebody may take him up on it.”

The government had told the judge that the message had alarmed the Secret Service detail that protects Clinton, a Democratic former presidential candidate and first lady. It also argued that it fit a pattern of veiled threats against female journalists who rebuffed Shkreli’s social media advances and of taunts aimed at prosecutors in his case.

On Wednesday morning, Shkreli, often called the Pharma Bro, wrote to the court apologising for his behaviour, saying, “I am not a violent person.”

But for the judge, it was too little, too late.