WASHINGTON — He's one of America's most hated men: a former Big Pharma executive accused of having contempt for the sick.
Martin Shkreli, a man portrayed by the media as a smug and ruthless wolf of Wall Street whose price-gouging strategies would make a Super Bowl ticket scalper blush, usually has plenty to say for himself.
But not yesterday.
Instead, Shkreli was strangely silent as the former Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO appeared before a congressional hearing, Reuters reported.
The smirking pharma bro invoked the Fifth Amendment, declining to answer any questions from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Five times in all, a sneering Shkreli, 32, invoked his constitutional right not to incriminate himself.
Even a question about his $2 million purchase of the sole copy of the Wu-Tang Clan's latest album went unanswered.
Shkreli tweeted afterwards that the panel were "imbeciles" and it was hard to accept they represented the government.
Last year, Shkreli's former company bought the lifesaving drug Daraprim and jacked up the price more than 5,000 percent to $750 a pill.
But he stepped down from Turing and was fired by KaloBios Pharmaceuticals after he was arrested in December on securities charges, according to Reuters.
Shkreli has pleaded not guilty to fraud charges, which are unrelated to the sale of Daraprim.
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