SMUG

Shkreli Pleads 5th, Smirks Through Congressional Hearing

On his massive pharma price hike.

Notorious pharmaceutical ex-CEO and Tinder frequenter Martin Shkreli invoked his Fifth Amendment rights and declined to answer questions from U.S. lawmakers Thursday during a congressional hearing. While smirking throughout the proceedings, Shkreli, 32, refused to answer why his former company raised the price of a lifesaving medicine by 5,000 percent.

“I intend to follow the advice of my counsel, not yours,” said Shkreli, who was arrested on securities-fraud charges in December and later fired from KaloBios Pharmaceuticals. He wouldn’t even answer questions about the Wu-Tang Clan, the rap collective from whom he purchased a single-copy album for $2 million last year.

The hearing took place in the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform; and officials admonished Shkreli at least once for laughing. Following the hearing, Shkreli went on a Twitter rant against his antagonists: “Hard to accept that these imbeciles represent the people in our government,” he wrote in one message; “I had prior counsel produce a memo on facial expressions during congressional testimony if anyone wants to see it,” he mocked in another.