Martin Shkreli’s defense attorney blasted the government’s case as “rich person BS” Thursday, as the notorious loudmouth’s trial wound to a close.
“They’re not playing with rent money, ladies and gentleman,” ​Ben ​Brafman bellowed in reference to the parade of well-heeled investors who took the stand during the five-week trial, who gave Shkreli anywhere from $100,000 to $1,000,000 to invest. “Martin Shkreli is on trial for his life, but no one here suffered any economic harm.”
“These rich people don’t know how much money they made.”
Shkreli, 34, faces up to 20 years behind bars if convicted on various charges of securities and wire fraud.
“​If​ Martin Shkreli really wanted to defraud these people, why didn’t he defraud them?” Brafman shrieked, reminding jurors that everyone who handed Shkreli money walked away with more than they’d invested.
Prosecutors claim Shkreli paid off financiers with money that didn’t belong to him, but Brafman challenged that Thursday too, saying his client’s hedge funds were all building to his drug company, Retrophin.
Brafman explained away investing statements concocted by Shkreli — telling lenders their investments were skyrocketing as they were actually plummeting — by saying Shkreli was factoring in the value of what his drug company, Retrophin, would eventually become.
“You can’t value [the investments] because you can’t understand the way my mind works, unfortunately, and I look like a jerk but I’m not,” Brafman said, seemingly channeling Shkreli’s thought process. “So when you go into his mind to try and figure out if Martin Shkreli violated the law, you have to look at who you are analyzing.”
In a surprise twist, Brafman also produced a bag of “Ruffles” chips to describe the effort that Shkreli had poured into his company — reminding jurors the salted treats had started as potatoes as he tossed around the bag.
Echoing statements he made in opening statements, the top defense attorney stressed the two years Shkreli allegedly spent “sleeping in his office in a sleeping bag, like a vagrant,” trying to make his company succeed.
As he begged jurors to “save” Shkreli, Brafman said he felt like a “lifeguard.”
“I see Martin floating in his own little world, 30 yards offshore,” Brafman fretted. “That’s my worst fear, that I lose him. Not because he shouldn’t be saved, but because of the current that, God bless, follows Martin wherever he goes.”
Prosecutors are expected to mount a rebuttal Friday.