Martin Shkreli, the former pharmaceutical executive who garnered national infamy for dramatically increasing the price of a life-saving HIV drug, was sentenced in a New York court Friday to seven years in prison for securities fraud. The sentence includes credit for time served, Stat News notes.
Shkreli was convicted in August of securities fraud — a crime that could've resulted in a 20-year sentence — after he was found guilty of mismanaging millions in investor dollars at two funds. After he was convicted, Shkreli posted a braggadocious YouTube video in which he claimed his sentence would be "close to nil."
But after the judge handed down the verdict Friday, he offered a tearful apology and pleaded for "your honor's mercy." "The only person to blame for me being here is me," Shkreli said, adding that he was not motivated by money, but rather by stature. "There is no government conspiracy to take down Martin Shkreli. I took down Martin Shkreli with my disgraceful and shameful actions."