"Pharma Bro" Martin Shkreli was sentenced today to seven years in prison with credit for six months served. 
 
 The sentence, which was less than half of what the government had asked for but more than the 18 months requested by the defense, came after Shkreli sobbed and begged a federal court in New York for "your honor's mercy." 
 
 Shkreli, 34, apologized for his "disgraceful judgment" and dispensed with his prior criticisms of the court and his conviction. 
 
 "The only person to blame for me being here is me," he said. "There is no government conspiracy to take down Martin Shkreli. I took down Martin Shkreli with my disgraceful and shameful actions." 
 
 Elizabeth Williams via AP 
 
 He was also ordered to pay a $75,000 fine and $7.3 million in forfeiture, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue. 
 
 “For years, Shkreli told lie after lie in order to steal his investors’ money, manipulate the stock market and enrich himself,” Donoghue said in the release. “He will now pay the price for repeatedly violating the trust placed in him by his investors, his employees and the public." 
 
 Shkreli, a former pharmaceuticals CEO who first became infamous for hiking the price of a lifesaving HIV drug, was convicted of securities fraud and had faced a sentence of up to 20 years in prison. 
 
 Justin Lane/EPA via Shutterstock 
 
 His persona, cultivated online, before Congress and with the decision to hike the price of the drug Daraprim, led his own defense attorney Benjamin Brafman to concede, "there are times I want to punch him in the face" but the judge assured the court that the "Daraprim pricing is not an issue." 
 
 Shkreli, despite his infamous antics, "is a good person" who "cannot always control awkward, inappropriate behaviors," the defense insisted. 
 
 But prosecutors said that plainly Shkreli "stole money for his own benefit," calling it "absurd" to cast him as some misunderstood child genius. 
 
 "He's a man," the prosecutor said. "He's no better than any other fraudster." 
 
 Lucas Jackson/Reuters, FILE 
 
 Shkreli has been behind bars since September when a judge found he broke the terms of his bail by offering social media followers money for a hair sample from then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. 
 
 Separately, Shkreli must forfeit nearly $7.4 million, a federal judge in Brooklyn, New York, ruled Monday, which could force him to give up a one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album. ||||| Martin Shkreli’s big mouth landed him in jail even before his fraud conviction did. 
 
 A U.S. judge revoked the former pharmaceutical executive’s bail Wednesday, ordering him jailed immediately, over a bounty Shkreli issued in a Facebook post for a strand of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s hair. 
 
 “The fact that he continues to remain unaware of the inappropriateness of his actions or words demonstrates that he may well be an ongoing danger or risk to the community," U.S. District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto said. 
 
 Shkreli, wearing a lavender button-down shirt and Dockers, was stone-faced as the judge handed down her decision. He was immediately taken into custody and led away from the courtroom by two deputy U.S. Marshals and into a prisoner holding cell adjacent to the sixth-floor courtroom. 
 
 He will be held at the Metropolitan Detention Center, according to his lawyer Benjamin Brafman. It’s a federal jail in the Sunset Park section of Brooklyn which has housed terrorists and mobsters. 
 
 "We are obviously disappointed,” Brafman said after the hearing. “We believe the court arrived at the wrong decision, but she’s the judge and right now we will have to live with this decision.” 
 
 Martin Shkreli’s Fall: Why ‘Most-Hated’ CEO Is Strutting to Jail 
 
 Shkreli, 34, was convicted last month of three of eight charges, including two counts of securities fraud. He was acquitted of fraud charges related to the alleged looting of the drug company he founded, Retrophin Inc. He faces a maximum of 20 years in prison on each of the securities fraud charges, though he’s likely to get a lesser term. He’s scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 16. 
 
 The conviction and pending sentencing didn’t tame the brash executive known as Pharma Bro. In a now-deleted Facebook posting, in which he offered his followers $5,000 for a strand of Clinton’s hair during her book tour, he caught the attention of prosecutors. They asked Matsumoto to revoke Shkreli’s bail and throw him in jail because he’s not only a convicted felon but his threats pose a danger to the community. 
 
 "He’s reckless,” prosecutor Jacquelyn Kasulis told the judge. “He doesn’t get it. He doesn’t respect the rule of law." 
 
 Why Martin Shkreli was found guilty of fraud Source: Bloomberg 
 
 Shkreli appears to have violated state and federal laws prohibiting threats against the immediate family members of former presidents, the prosecutors argued. The comments prompted the U.S. Secret Service to start an investigation and boost security for Clinton, they said. 
 
 Why Shkreli Is Guilty When Investors Didn’t Lose: QuickTake Q&A 
 
 Shkreli has a history of making provocative comments against specific women, the prosecutors said. 
 
 He was banned from Twitter in January for harassing a Teen Vogue writer and persisted in verbally badgering women online. 
 
 Shkreli responded to the government’s request with a profanity in a Facebook post, adding “I will never kiss their ring or snitch. Come at me with your hardest because I haven’t seen anything impressive yet." 
 
 He quickly backed off, writing an apologetic letter to the judge in a request to remain out on bail. 
 
 "Some may have read my comments about Mrs. Clinton as threatening, which was never my intention," Shkreli wrote. "I used poor judgment but never intended to cause alarm or promote any act of violence whatsoever." 
 
 Brafman vowed Shkreli would behave if the judge let him remain free until sentencing. 
 
 "Stupid doesn’t make you violent," Brafman said. "Sometimes stupid makes you stupid." 
 
 Shkreli was just engaging in political satire in his comments about Clinton, Brafman said. 
 
 The judge wasn’t buying it. 
 
 "What is so funny about this?” a visibly angry Matsumoto demanded. “He’s soliciting an assault on another person in exchange for $5,000. Under the facts and circumstances, I’m going to respectfully deny your request to change my mind. I can’t say with any certainty that the threats have not been taken seriously by anybody.” 
 
 The case is U.S. v. Shkreli, 15-cr-637, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn).
– It turns out Martin Shkreli was a little off when he predicted he would only spend a few months in a "Club Fed" prison. The New York Daily News reports the "Pharma Bro," "international villain," and "most hated person in America" was sentenced to seven years in prison for securities fraud Friday. The 34-year-old Shkreli will get credit for the six months he's already served after having his bail revoked in September for offering $5,000 for a sample of Hillary Clinton's hair, according to the Washington Post. Shkreli was found guilty in August of defrauding investors in his hedge fund. But it was hiking the price of an HIV drug by 5,000% that first garnered him headlines. Since then he's been kicked off Twitter for threatening a journalist, been the subject of a satirical musical, fought with rappers, and called federal prosecutors "imbeciles." Prior to his sentencing, a crying Shkreli, who one excused juror called "the face of corporate greed in America," begged Judge Kiyo Matsumoto for "your honor's mercy," ABC News reports. "The only person to blame for me being here is me," he said. "There is no government conspiracy to take down Martin Shkreli. I took down Martin Shkreli with my disgraceful and shameful actions." However, Shkreli's defense lawyer said he "shouldn't be sentenced simply for being Martin Shkreli," admitting "there are times I want to punch him in the face." Shkreli's seven-year sentence is about the midpoint between what the defense and prosecution was asking for. Earlier this week, Matsumoto ordered Shkreli to forfeit $7.36 million, allowing prosecutors to go after the sole copy of a Wu-Tang Clan album for which Shkreli reportedly paid millions.