Shkreli was the just the lowest hanging fruit who a) didn't have the backing of a major pharma company to mask him and b) he also happened to enjoy the attention he get from playing the "villain" character, ironically or not, in an outrage driven (social) media culture.

I also don't think it's possible to separate his identity within pharma nor his politics with the Clinton drama, from his sentencing in this case.

Nearly every single headline has started with "Pharmabro" and judges always consider external factors and personal behaviour during sentencing.