PHARMA BRO

Prosecutors: Shkreli Witnesses Fear Reprisal

Allegedly received threats from him.

Prosecutors alleged that witnesses in the criminal fraud case against former phamaceutical executive Martin Shkreli fear retaliation from the so-called "pharma bro." Shkreli, who is known for raising the price of AIDS medication by five-thousand percent, has been both indicted on criminal charges and sued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. In a Thursday brief asking to delay the SEC lawsuit, criminal prosecutors claimed that there was "well-founded concern of witness intimidation based on defendant Shkreli's past behavior." If the lawsuit proceeded, prosecutors said, Shkreli's legal team would be allowed to depose the witnesses, opening them up to the possibility of intimidation. "While his keen 'intellect' can at times be intimidating to mere mortals, nothing else about [Shkreli] is intimidating at all," Benjamin Brafman, Shkreli's lawyer, responded in an email to Reuters.