Roger Yu

USA TODAY

Martin Shkreli, the pharmaceutical industry entrepreneur who’d been indicted on charges of securities fraud, had his Twitter account suspended Sunday after he recently harassed a female journalist online.

Lauren Duca, a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in Teen Vogue and other publications, tweeted Thursday a screenshot of a direct Twitter message from Shkreli, in which he invited Duca to be his date to President-elect Trump's inauguration.

“I would rather eat my organs,” she tweeted, along with a screenshot of the note.

Shkreli continued to tweet about Duca. He posted several photos of Duca on his Twitter banner and used a doctored photo, showing Duca sitting on a sofa, as his Twitter profile image. He also wrote on his Twitter bio that he had “a small crush” on Duca and hopes that she doesn’t find out. His messages about Duca prompted some of his followers to tweet other doctored photos of Shkreli and Duca.

On Sunday, Duca grabbed a screenshot of Shkreli’s Twitter page – along with a message, “How is this allowed” -- and tweeted it to Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter.

“Why is harassment an automatic career hazard for a woman receiving any amount of professional attention? Question for @jack & also society!,” Duca tweeted Sunday. Duca also tweeted threatening messages from others.

Duca told BuzzFeed that Shkreli "has been harassing (her) for a while.”

“I don’t know if he’s encouraging people to do this, but there’s been a small contingent of trolls telling me to sleep with him — but not that politely,” she said.

Martin Shkreli pleads the Fifth, then tweets about 'imbeciles' in Congress

Before his account was suspended, Shkreli defended his actions by saying the photos were “a collage,” according to the images of Shkreli’s Twitter messages posted by BuzzFeed.

Shkreli was arrested and subpoenaed in February, 2016 by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform for his role in his company’s steep price hikes of an anti-parasitic drug. Shkreli declined to answers questions, invoking his 5th Amendment rights. He is free on bail pending trial.