Martin Shkreli, Disgraced Pharmaceutical CEO, Calls Members of Congress ‘Imbeciles’ After Hearing

Martin Shkreli was asked to appear before House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to answer why his company raised the price of a lifesaving medicine by 5,000 percent.

Shkreli, who pleaded not guilty after his arrest in December in NY, has been out on $5 million bail.

“I know you’re smiling but I’m very serious sir”, Cummings said.

“What would you say to Hillary Clinton if you could debate her right now?” one person asked.

Committee chairman Jason Chaffetz refused a request by Mr Shkreli’s lawyer to speak, as politicians from the left and right took turns denouncing his conduct and attitude. By hiking up the price of Daraprim, a toxoplasmosis treatment used by AIDS patients, by 5000%, Cummings said that Shkreli was taking advantage of Turing’s customers.

Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy did a rise out of Shkreli briefly by asking how to pronounce his name and about his lavish spending on a Wu-Tang Clan album, questions outside the scope of the Fifth Amendment.

“Drug company executives are lining their pockets at the expense of some of the most vulnerable families in our nation”, U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Maryland, said.

Under Shkreli, Turing acquired the rights to Daraprim, a 62-year-old drug for a parasitic infection, and raised the price fiftyfold to $750 a pill.

Shkreli did not comment during the press conference, but tweeted moments later.

The charismatic persona that Shkreli has cultivated – paying $2 million for the only copy of a new Wu Tang Clan album and setting up a web cam to film himself working – amplified the tension with Congress.

Shkreli, upon leaving the room within an hour, apparently tweeted his disdain for the legislators.

Shkreli has broadcast his stance on his drug pricing model through social media and streaming web sites. “I think everyone will recognize that Mr. Shkreli is not a villain, he is not the bad boy”. “Testimony from drug companies today will be the same – the difference today is we have looked beyond their smoke screen”, he added, referring to research by congressional investigators that Turing drove up the price of Daraprim to boost its profits.

Cummings said Turing Pharmaceuticals, which Shkreli used to run, had been dealing in “blood money”.

Separately, Shkreli faces criminal charges of securities fraud related to his leadership role at two other companies: hedge fund MSMB Capital Management and biopharmaceutical firm Retrophin.

Listen for yourself as Rep. Peter Welch, a Democrat from Vermont, asked Turing’s Chief Commercial Officer Nancy Retzlaff how much Daraprim costs.

“Should be a very handsome investment for all of us”, he said. Gowdy immediately responded, “So there are some questions you can answer”.