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‘Pharma bro’ Martin Shkreli vows to be ‘more honest’ in plea for lower prison sentence for losing US$10.4m of investors’ money

Shkreli hopes to get 12-18 months in jail and community service – well under the 30 years he could get for losing more than US$10.4 million of investors’ money

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Martin Shkreli (seen in August 2017) is pleading for a substantial reduction in his possible sentence, saying he will be ‘more honest’ in the future. Shkreli, infamous for increasing the cost of drug Daraprim by 5,000 per cent, has been found guilty of securities fraud. File photo: Reuters
Bloomberg

Martin Shkreli has promised to be “more careful, open and honest” and said “I was a fool. I should have known better,” in a plea to have his upcoming sentence for securities fraud reduced.

“I assure you that any mercy shown at sentencing will be met with a strict adherence to this oath and I hope to make your honour proud of me in the years ahead,” Shkreli said in a letter penned from the Brooklyn lock-up where he’s been since September.

It’s a turnaround for Shkreli, who was dubbed the most-hated-man in America after raising the price of a life-saving drug by 5,000 per cent, and who was convicted on Monday of losing more than US$10.4 million of his investors’ money.

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He previously blasted members of a congressional panel who had quizzed him about the price hike, calling them “imbeciles” on Twitter.

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“I am now, however a more self confident and secure person,” Shkreli wrote in a letter to the judge. “The demons that haunted me – the root cause of my insecurity in my life – no longer all exist. I have learned a very painful lesson.”

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