SKETCHES OF Court: Martin Shkreli’s attorney calls him ‘odd’ at start of fraud trial

June 29, 2017 By Shirley Shepard Special to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Martin Shkreli on left, listens as his lawyer, Benjamin Brafman provides his opening arguemnt to a jury at Brooklyn Federal Court. Court sketches by Shirley Shepard.

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Martin Shkreli sat before a jury for the opening arguments in his fraud trial Wednesday.

Shkreli’s lawyer, Benjamin Brafman told the jury that Shkreli is a strange, but “misunderstood genius,” the Daily News reported.

But prosecutors insisted that Shkreli was building a web of lies when building a phony hedge fund operation.

Shkreli is accused of lying about hedge fund MSMB Capital Management’s finances to entice investors, while hiding trading losses from them. He allegedly paid the investors back with stolen money from his company Retrophin, which he founded in 2011.

While the events are unrelated, he was put into the public scope after raising the price of a life-saving drug 5,000 percent.

His company, Turing Pharmaceuticals raised the price of the HIV drug, Daraprim, from $13.50 to $750 per pill.