At House Hearing, Silent Shkreli Smirks at 'Imbeciles'

He took the 5th, then unloaded on Twitter
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 4, 2016 10:50 AM CST
At House Hearing, Silent Shkreli Smirks at 'Imbeciles'
Former Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli leaves court in New York, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016.   (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

A House committee looking into drug-pricing practices received the same answer Martin Shkreli gave a Senate committee last month: "On the advice of counsel, I invoke my Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination and respectfully decline to answer your question." The former Turing CEO repeated the statement several times Thursday in response to questions from the House Oversight Committee, though he did give the correct pronunciation of his name and confirmed that he was listening, per the Washington Post. When Rep. Trey Gowdy told Shkreli he could answer questions without incriminating himself because the questions didn't relate to securities fraud charges against him, Shkreli responded: "I intend to follow the advice of my counsel, not yours."

After Shkreli's $2 million purchase of a Wu-Tang Clan album was mentioned, Gowdy added, "Mr. Chairman, I am stunned that conversation about an album purchased could possibly subject him to incrimination," per Politico. But Shkreli wouldn't budge and only occasionally grinned. "It's not funny, Mr. Shkreli," Rep. Elijah Cummings said, per USA Today, arguing price-gouging tactics "are not limited to a few bad apples." After the meeting, Shkreli was less than quiet. "Hard to accept that these imbeciles represent the people in our government," he tweeted, before retweeting a user who said Shkreli "would have ripped those buffoons a new one had his lawyer allowed him to speak." (More Martin Shkreli stories.)

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