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How Martin Shkreli And Star Wars Hit Social Media

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Martin Shkreli (center), then-CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, is brought out of 26 Federal Plaza by law enforcement officials after being arrested for securities fraud on December 17 in New York City. (Andrew Burton/Getty Images)
Martin Shkreli (center), then-CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, is brought out of 26 Federal Plaza by law enforcement officials after being arrested for securities fraud on December 17 in New York City. (Andrew Burton/Getty Images)

It has been a wild week for Martin Shkreli, who became the poster boy for pharmaceutical greed earlier this year after his company acquired a potentially life-saving drug - and then raised the price on that drug five thousand percent. He resigned today as chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals after being arrested yesterday and arraigned on securities and wire fraud charges. He pleaded not guilty.

The charges are not linked to his pharmaceutical companies but to a hedge fund he managed years ago and an alleged Ponzi scheme there. An FBI official called his business practices "a securities fraud trifecta of lies, deceit and greed."

News of Shkreli's arrest was greeted with lots of cheers online. We look at that, and also how the new Star Wars movie is being discussed online, with Slate editor-in-chief Julia Turner.

Turner told Here & Now's Eric Westervelt, "It's so big that it has shut down all conversation so it feels like the entire Internet this morning is just kind of clenched in fear that the people who have seen it might ruin it for the people who haven't."

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This segment aired on December 18, 2015.

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