Jokester Martin Shkreli is back behind bars after a federal judge revoked his $5 million bond for threatening Hillary Clinton. Brooklyn Federal Judge Kiyo Matsumoto revoked Shkreli’s bond during a hearing in the federal courthouse on Wednesday.
The judge cited a Facebook.com post Shkreli wrote offering to pay someone $5,000 for a strand of Clinton’s hair. The judge said putting a bounty on Clinton’s hair could “cause a reasonable person to have concern.”
The ex-presidential candidate is in the midst of a book signing tour to promote her new book, titled What Happened.
The so-called “Pharma Bro” was convicted in August on multiple charges of securities fraud after he received widespread criticism for raising the price of HIV medication to $750 per pill. He was allowed to remain free on $5 million bond which he paid in August.
Shkreli apologized in a letter to the court on Wednesday, saying he was simply joking.
But the judge said even if Shkreli himself is harmless, his online followers might take him seriously and act on his offer.
“The fact that he continues to remains unaware of the inappropriateness of his actions or words demonstrate to me he may well be an ongoing danger or risk to the community,” she said.
The judge’s decision to revoke Shkreli’s bond sent gasps through the courtroom.
“He is soliciting an assault on another person in exchange for $5,000,” Matsumoto said.
Ben Brafman, Shkeli’s lawyer, begged the judge to give him a few days to show he could straighten up. But the judge declined.
Brafman then asked the judge to give his 34-year-old client a less harsh punishment, such as banning him from using social media.
But the judge noted that Shkreli never retracted his offer for a lock of Clinton’s hair. Matsumoto also said Brafman could have prevented his client from being reckless on social media earlier.
Shkreli looked dumbstruck when two deputy U.S. marshals ordered him to stand and escorted him out of the courtroom.
He was transported to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Sunset Park, where he will stay until his sentencing on Jan. 16, 2018.
