'Pharma Bro' Martin Shkreli Decides Not To Testify In Fraud Trial
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- The jury in the securities fraud trial of "Pharma Bro" Martin Shkreli won't be hearing from the former biotech CEO.
His lawyer says the 34-year-old Shkreli has decided not to testify.
Shkreli is best known for raising the price of a life-saving drug by 5,000 percent, but he's facing unrelated charges that he lied to investors in connection with a pair of failed hedge funds.
Prosecutors say that after Shkreli lost millions of dollars through bad trades through his side business hedge fund, he looted a second pharmaceutical company for $11 million to pay them back. The defense has argued that he had good intentions.
Though he won't speak in court, Shkreli has been vocal on social media throughout the trial.
In one of a flurry of recent Facebook posts, he wrote: "This was a bogus case from day one.''
He also has taken aim at news coverage of the trial writing, "More trash from the NYTimes. Is there an intelligent writer-editor pair at this company? Who would read this 'news'?''
Even prosecutors aren't off limits: Earlier this month, he taunted them as "the cowardly government,'' while he griped about their trial tactics. "This is not North Korea,'' he wrote.
The government's last witness testified on Tuesday.
The defense plans to rest without calling a single witness.
Closing arguments are expected Thursday.
If convicted, he could spend up to 20 years in prison.
(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
