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Appeals court upholds Martin Shkreli's fraud conviction

By Danielle Haynes
Former Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli appealed his conviction, saying the judge gave unclear instructions to the jury. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI
Former Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli appealed his conviction, saying the judge gave unclear instructions to the jury. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

July 18 (UPI) -- A federal appeals court on Thursday refused to overturn the conviction of former pharmaceutical CEO Martin Shkreli, who's serving seven years in prison for fraud.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously upheld the lower court's verdict. His sentence also included a $6.4 million forfeiture, $388,336 in restitution and a $75,000 fine.

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A jury convicted Shkreli in August 2017 on charges he ran a Ponzi scheme from 2009 to 2014 and bilked investors out of $11 million. Shkreli came to unrelated notoriety in 2015 after his company, Turing Pharmaceuticals, hiked the price of anti-parasite medication Daraprim from $13.50 to $750 per tablet. The drug is often used to treat HIV patients and others with compromised immune systems.

Shkreli, 36, appealed the conviction, saying the judge's instructions to the jury were unclear.

"The instruction given here correctly stated the law," the three-judge panel ruled Thursday. "As such, we disagree with Shkreli that exclusion of additional language describing an element not required for the charged crime constituted a prejudicial error."

Shkreli is serving his prison sentence in Pennsylvania.

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