(Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Wednesday ordered Martin Shkreli to be jailed while he awaits sentencing for securities fraud, citing a Facebook post in which the former drug company offered a $5,000 reward for a strand of Hillary Clinton's hair.
Shkreli, who had been free on $5 million bail since his December 2015 arrest, was silent and stony-faced as U.S. marshals led out of U.S. District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto's Brooklyn courtroom.
Matsumoto ruled that Shkreli's Sept. 4 post, made shortly before Clinton embarked on a book tour, showed he posed a danger to the public. She rejected arguments by Shkreli's lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, that the post was protected free speech.
"This is a solicitation of assault in exchange for money," the judge said. "That is not protected by the First Amendment."
