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Facebook posts put Pharma Bro Martin Shkreli in prison as a danger to society

Nope, not over the securities fraud, or the drug price hike

Martin Shkreli, the obnoxious smirking hedge fund manager nicknamed Pharma Bro, is going to jail after a series of Facebook posts convinced a judge that he's a menace to society.

No, he wasn't extolling the joys of raising prices on AIDS drugs by 5,000 per cent, or talking about his conviction last month for multiple counts of securities fraud. Instead it was a series of ranting posts about Hillary Clinton on Facebook that saw him back in court on Wednesday.

"The Clinton Foundation is willing to KILL to protect its secrets," he wrote on Monday. "So on HRC's book tour, try to grab a hair from her. I must confirm the sequences I have. Will pay $5,000 per hair obtained from Hillary Clinton."

Shkreli, who is out on $5m bail while awaiting sentencing for financial crimes, later amended the post to explain that it had been a joke. Then he deleted the post altogether. But it gave prosecutors the excuse they needed to go to a judge and ask for his bail to be revoked.

"Shkreli's latest threat is concerning not only because it has required a significant expenditure of resources by the United States Secret Service, which is charged with protecting Secretary Clinton, but also because there is a significant risk that one of his many social media followers or others who learn of his offers through the media will take his statements seriously – as has happened previously – and act on them," the filing [PDF] reads.

"His latest actions constitute changed circumstances that show that he cannot meet his burden of showing that he should remain at large pending sentencing."

Initially Shkreli came out fighting and proclaimed on social media that he would fight the revocation of his bail. He has previously said prison wouldn't be bad because he could work on his Xbox skills in "Club Fed".

"F– the government," he wrote after prosecutors filed their new case. "I will never kiss their ring or snitch. Come at me with your hardest because I haven't seen anything impressive yet."

However, presumably once his lawyers had a word in his shell-like ear, Shkreli became a lot more compliant. In a groveling letter [PDF] to US District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto in Brooklyn, he personally apologized and said it was never his intention to threaten anyone.

"I want to assure Your Honor that I am not a violent person, have never personally engaged in any violent behavior, nor have I intentionally encouraged anyone to do so," he wrote. "I apologize for my behavior and ask you respectfully not to change my bail status so that I may continue to assist my attorneys in preparing for my sentencing."

Judge Matsumoto wasn't buying it, however, and she decided to agree with the prosecutors and revoke his bail. He was handcuffed and led away by US marshals.

Since Shkreli isn't due to be sentenced until January 18, meaning that unless his lawyers can work some magic then he'll be spending Christmas behind bars. ®

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