Martin Shkreli​ Jailed After Offering Money For Hillary Clinton's Hair

MURRAY HILL, NY — Infamous "pharma bro" Martin Shkreli has been ordered to sit in jail while he awaits sentencing after he offered to pay anyone who could bring him a lock of Hillary Clinton's hair.

Shkreli, who has been labeled "the most hated man in America," had been free to await his sentencing in his Murray Hill home after he was convicted of securities fraud last month. But a judge revoked his $5 million bail on Wednesday, scolding him for a "solicitation of assault" when he called on his followers to "grab a hair" from Clinton during her book tour.

Shkreli offered $5,000 for anyone who could provide hair from Clinton. (For more on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

"That is a solicitation of assault in exchange for money," Judge Kiyo Matsumoto said on Wednesday, according to WCBS journalist Alex Silverman. "That is not protected by the First Amendment."

WATCH: Judge Revokes Martin Shkreli's Bail, Putting Him In Jail For Months

Shkreli's lawyer claimed that the 34-year-old's offer was a bad joke, and Shkreli apologized for the post in a letter earlier this week. After he published the original post, he later edited it to say it was satirical before taking it down altogether.

Prosecutors said that many of Shkreli's followers could think the offer was serious, that the bounty he offered for Clinton's hair demonstrated a pattern of threatening women. Shkreli was banned from Twitter earlier after harassing a female journalist.

Shkreli catapulted himself to infamy by hiking up the price of a life-saving drug by 5,000 percent. Shkreli has remained unrepentant about his unequivocal quest to make as much money for shareholders as possible.

Shkreli's securities fraud conviction was unrelated to his price gouging. He faces up to 20 years in prison.

Image credit: Spencer Platt / Staff / Getty Images News