Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn have asked a judge to prevent Martin Shkreli from making public commentary about his ongoing securities-fraud trial, saying the high-profile defendant had “embarked on a campaign of disruption” and was “making a spectacle of himself and the trial.” 
 
 In a motion for a gag order filed Monday night, prosecutors from the Brooklyn U.S. attorney’s office cited the activity of a Twitter account that appears to be run by Mr. Shkreli, as well as an unchaperoned visit Mr. Shkreli made Friday to an overflow... 

 Prosecutors ridiculed by "pharma bro" Martin Shkreli last week have asked a judge to shut him up, saying he should be barred from talking publicly ─ and tweeting ─ about his federal securities-fraud trial. 
 
 The request came after Shkreli walked into a courtroom full of reporters during a Friday lunch break in Brooklyn and shared his thoughts about the case. At one point, he called the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of New York "junior varsity," according to accounts of several journalists who were there. 
 
 Shkreli also told reporters that he hadn't prepared some of the internal documents that the government was using to try to prove he duped investors. And he derided a woman who'd testified against him, saying she couldn't have been a victim of any crime because she ended up making money, CNBC reported. 
 
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 Those comments were just part of Shkreli's "campaign of disruption" in which he has commented "to the press and on social media" and made "a spectacle of himself and the trial," prosecutors wrote in their motion for a gag order. They accused Shkreli, who was banned from Twitter earlier this year for harassing a female journalist, of being behind an anonymous account that has been commenting on the trial. 
 
 Related: Shkreli’s Trial Not On Drug Prices, But This ‘Ponzi-Like’ Scheme 
 
 "If this behavior continues, it is only a matter of time before Shkreli, or a member of the public who is repeating Shkreli's statements, exposes one or more jurors to precisely the sort of extrajudicial evidence or commentary and our system forbids," the prosecutors wrote. 
 
 Shkreli's lawyer, Benjamin Brafman ─ who speculated in his opening statements that his client might be "just nuts" ─ responded by accusing the media of trying to "bait" his client, who he said was in a "frail emotional state" and trying to defend himself against "one-sided coverage." 
 
 While Brafman said he has told Shkreli to knock it off, a gag order would violate Shkreli's First Amendment rights, Brafman said. 
 
 The filings were made on Monday, two days before the trial was set to resume before U.S. District Court Judge Kiyo Matsumoto. 
 
 Shkreli, 34, became a target of public derision when he raised the price of an AIDS drug by more than 5,000 percent. His trial, where he faces eight counts of wire and securities fraud, aren't related to that move. They cover his time as portfolio manager of two hedge funds and the founder of pharmaceutical company Retrophin. 
 
 Shkreli has continued to grab attention with various antics since his arrest, flaunting large purchases on social media, including a rare album by the rap group Wu-Tang Clan. 

 NEW YORK (Reuters) - Federal prosecutors on Monday asked a U.S. judge for a gag order muzzling former drug company executive Martin Shkreli, on trial for securities fraud charges, arguing that his statements to media could taint the jury and disrupt the case, court papers show. 
 
 Martin Shkreli, former chief executive officer of Turing Pharmaceuticals and KaloBios Pharmaceuticals Inc, departs after a hearing at U.S. Federal Court in Brooklyn, New York, U.S., June 26, 2017. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson 
 
 Shkreli’s attorney, Benjamin Brafman, asked the judge that day to reject the request on the grounds that his client had a First Amendment right to speak freely, according to the filings. 
 
 Shkreli last week told reporters outside the court that an alleged victim of his was not actually a victim because she made money from his investments, attorneys for the U.S. government told U.S. Judge Kiyo Matsumoto in a letter on Monday. He also directly spoke on camera to a journalist and appeared to be commenting on the case on social media platform Twitter under the handle @BLMBro, they added. 
 
 Brafman said Shkreli was in a delicate emotional state, and believed that the press focuses unfairly on some of his negative characteristics. 
 
 “His comments are the somewhat natural, though unfortunate consequence of a young man with a demonstrated history of significant anxiety being at the center of a supremely difficult time in his life,” Brafman wrote in the filing. 
 
 Dubbed the “pharma bro,” Shkreli, 34, gained notoriety for raising the price of a life-saving drug by 5,000 percent. The charges he faces stem from his management of pharmaceutical company Retrophin Inc (RTRX.O) and the hedge fund MSMB Capital Management from 2009 to 2014. 
 
 Prosecutors have claimed that Shkreli engaged in a Ponzi-like scheme in which he defrauded investors in MSMB and took $11 million in assets from Retrophin to repay them. Shkreli has pleaded not guilty to charges that include securities fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. 
 
 Federal prosecutors have asked Judge Matsumoto sequester the jury in the event that the court does not issue the gag order. 
 
 In their letter, federal prosecutors said Shkreli visited reporters in a court breakroom last week and remarked on the credibility of witnesses who testified. 
 
 Prosecutors also wrote that Shkreli on YouTube had identified himself as BLMBro. The BLMBro Twitter account has posted stories critical of witnesses and evidence in the trial, they added. 
 
 Shkreli in January was suspended from Twitter for harassing a female journalist. 
 
 Brafman has argued that Shkreli is a misunderstood genius who earned his wealthy investors millions of dollars.
– Martin Shkreli is "making a spectacle of himself" and his securities fraud trial and he needs to be told to be quiet, prosecutors say. Prosecutors have asked a judge for a gag order banning the "Pharma Bro" from talking about the case publicly and discussing it on social media, NBC News reports. In their court filing, federal prosecutors in New York cited an incident Friday in which Shkreli visited a viewing room at the courthouse and discussed evidence and witnesses with journalists, the Wall Street Journal reports. Prosecutors also accused Shkreli, who was banned from Twitter for harassing a female journalist, of operating the @BLMBro account, which has been tweeting about the case. In their motion, prosecutors argued that Shkreli had "embarked on a campaign of disruption" that has made it difficult to select a jury and could "render a fair trial impossible." Shkreli's attorney, Benjamin Brafman, asked the judge to reject the request because his client has a constitutional right to speak freely, Reuters reports. Shkreli, Brafman said, is a "young man with a demonstrated history of significant anxiety" and is in a "clearly frail emotional state." He said Shkreli is trying to defend himself against what he sees as "one-sided" coverage of the trial, which resumes Wednesday. (In his opening statement, Brafman cited Lady Gaga twice.)