Supreme Court Rejects Appeals From R. Kelly and ‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected appeals from two high-profile figures: R&B singer R. Kelly, and former pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli, known as “Pharma Bro.”

Kelly, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence, sought to challenge his conviction on child sex abuse charges.

He was convicted in 2022 of producing child sexual abuse images and enticing minors for sex.

The Supreme Court also declined a separate appeal from Shkreli’s legal representatives, who maintain the once-CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals should not be held responsible for returning over $60 million in profits to consumers he price gouged.

Federal representatives did not provide a detailed explanation for rejecting either appeal, as is common practice.

The former RnB singer’s argument had been previously dismissed by lower courts.

Federal prosecutors described the central piece of evidence—a video of Kelly abusing a girl, identified as “Jane.” Jane testified during the Chicago trial that she was 14 years old when the video was recorded.

At the time of the filing earlier this year, the 57-year-old’s attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, argued a shorter statute of limitations was applicable, as the alleged offenses took place in the 1990s.

She blamed omissions within the PROTECT Act (2003)—a law primarily aimed at preventing child exploitation.

“Because Congress did not expressly state that the PROTECT Act should apply retroactivity and even rejected a version of the bill that included a retroactive provision, the PROTECT Act did not extend the statute of limitations and Defendant was convicted of time-barred offenses,” read the petition.

Bonjean previously succeeded in overturning Bill Cosby’s conviction.

This case is separate from another 30-year sentence Kelly is currently appealing for federal racketeering and sex trafficking charges in New York.

Kelly was convicted in that case for operating a criminal enterprise that enabled him to exploit young women and girls.

In a separate case, 41-year-old Shkreli received legal pushback after his defense appealed against the Court’s decision for him to return $64.6 million accumulating from drastically increasing the price of life-saving drug Daraprim.

His company, Turing Pharmaceuticals (later Vyera), raised the price of the pills from $13.50 to $750 per unit in 2015.

Shkreli was accused of monopolizing the market for the medication, which treats a rare parasitic disease affecting pregnant women, cancer patients, and people with HIV/AIDS.

Lawyers contend that the profits should be returned by his former company rather than him personally.

Prosecutors, however, argued that Shkreli was responsible as the mastermind behind the scheme, and the company had already settled to pay $40 million.

Shkreli was also ordered to forfeit a unique asset—the Wu-Tang Clan’s unreleased album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin.

The album was auctioned off in 2015, and the pharma CEO purchased the only existing copy for $2 million, with strict conditions that it not be commercially exploited.

His ownership of the album became a symbol of his controversial business practices and persona.

Shkreli was released from prison in 2022 after serving the majority of his seven-year sentence.

He had been convicted of defrauding investors by lying about the financial performance of two hedge funds he managed prior to his pharmaceutical career.

This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.