Photo: Susan Walsh/AP Photo. Martin Shkreli, the frat-boy pharmaceutical executive who made news for price-gouging HIV patients, went in front of Congress to defend himself against charges of fraud on Thursday. It did not go well.
According to NBC News, Shkreli smirked, rolled his eyes, and appeared to be on the verge of laughter throughout the hearing. He invoked his Fifth Amendment rights and refused to respond to questions, saying that he would take his counsel's advice and "not yours." His behavior was more reminiscent of a seventh-grade class clown than someone defending himself before Congress. At one point, Representative Elijah Cummings of Maryland even asked, “Mr Shkreli, are you listening?”
“Yes sir,” Shkreli answered with a smirk.
His attitude was so egregiously bad when he was asked to comment on the victims of his profit lust, that Cummings yelled at him on the floor. “It’s not funny, Mr. Shkreli. People are dying."
Shkreli later called the Congress members “imbeciles” on Twitter, and added that he’d had his lawyers produce a memo on facial expressions during Congressional testimony.
Hard to accept that these imbeciles represent the people in our government.
— Martin Shkreli (@MartinShkreli) February 4, 2016
I had prior counsel produce a memo on facial expressions during congressional testimony if anyone wants to see it. Interesting precedence.
— Martin Shkreli (@MartinShkreli) February 4, 2016
Martin Shkreli Keeps Pleading The Fifth"Pharma bro" Martin Shkreli didn't answer a single question at his congressional hearing
Posted by NowThis on Thursday, February 4, 2016
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