Federal prosecutors on Wednesday slammed convicted felon Martin Shkreli’s motion for a three-month “furlough” of his prison sentence to research a treatment for the coronavirus, saying he “cannot be trusted” and that his prior involvement in finding cures “was primarily motivated by the potential to make tremendous profits.” Attorneys for the Eastern District of New York wrote in a memo that Shrekeli’s “belief that he can develop a cure for COVID-19, something that has so far eluded the best medical and scientific minds in the world working around the clock, is not only a practice in wild and completely unfounded speculation, but is indicative of the same kind of delusional self-aggrandizing behavior that underlies the defendant's conduct.”

Shkreli, otherwise known as “Pharma Bro,” was sentenced to seven years in federal prison in 2018 for charges of security fraud during his time as CEO of the biotechnology firm Retrophin. The disgraced former executive said in a research paper earlier this month that he is “one of the few executives experienced in ALL aspects of drug development,” adding, “I do not expect to profit in any way, shape or form from coronavirus-related treatments.”