NEW YORK – Jury selection at the securities fraud trial of a former pharmaceutical CEO notorious for price-gouging has hit a rough patch.
Lawyers for Martin Shkreli complained Tuesday that news coverage is tainting the New York jury pool.
During questioning Monday, several potential jurors said they couldn’t ignore Shkreli’s reputation for raising the price of a life-saving drug by 5,000 percent. One of them called him “the face of corporate greed.”
The judge denied defense requests to start the selection process over and ban reporters from listening in on sidebars. She agreed to re-question about 40 people who qualified for the pool to see if they were influenced by the latest wave of publicity for Shkreli.
Shkreli is on trial of on charges unrelated to his drug pricing.
