After going on a rant to reporters covering his trial in which he called Brooklyn federal court prosecutors “junior varsity,” prosecutors have asked the judge for a gag order against “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli.
According to NBC, prosecutors said in a motion filed in a Brooklyn federal court that Shkreli’s comments “risks tainting the jury.”
Prosecutors, who think Shkreli may have continued his rant on Twitter under a pseudonym, also want the judge to bar him from tweeting further about the trial, according to the report.
Shkreli’s lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, told the judge that the media was to blame for his client’s comments.
“The Court should be aware that certain representatives of the press have gone out of their way to try to ‘bait’ Mr. Shkreli into making public statements that we all have worked very hard to avoid,” Brafman said, according to CNBC.
If a gag order is not granted, prosecutors are seeking a semi-sequestration of jurors, NBC reported. This would prevent them from reading or hearing any of Shkreli’s possible comments about the case.
The judge was also asked to bar prosecutors and lawyers from discussing the case with reporters.