Martin Shkreli

About

Martin Shkreli is an American entrepreneur best known for founding the company Turing Pharmaceuticals which controversially increased the price of the medication Daraprim in late 2015, earning him the nickname "Pharma Bro" on various websites and news outlets online.

Online History

In June 2011, Shkreli launched the @MarinShkreli^[3] Twitter feed, garnering upwards of 56,000 followers over the next five years.

Daraprim Price Hike

In February 2015, Shkreli founded the company Turing Pharmaceuticals. On September 20th, The New York Times^[2] reported that the company Turning Pharmaceuticals raised the price of the anti-malarial and antiparasitic drug Daraprim, a life saving drug for HIV-postive people infected with Toxoplasma gondii, from $13.50 to $750 per tablet after acquiring the drug the previous month. The price increase by widely criticized in the news and social media, with many directing attacks at Shkreli as the company's CEO. Shkreli defended the increase, arguing that it would make patient co-pays lower and that Turing Pharmaceuticals provided many of their drugs for low or no cost.

YouTube Channel

On November 4th, 2015, Shkreli launched a YouTube^[6] channel where he broadcast regular livestreams of himself talking directly to viewers, playing video games and offering financial advice. Within three months, the channel gained over 846,000 video views and 8,600 subscribers.

Wu-Tang Clan Feud

On December 9th, 2015, Bloomberg Businessweek^[5] revealed that Shkreli won an auction for the sole copy of the Wu-Tang Clan album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin for $2 million. On January 26th, 2016, TMZ posted a clip of Wu-Tang Clan member Ghostface Killah mocking Shkreli's nose by comparing it to Michael Jackson's (shown below).

On January 28th, Shkreli released a video of himself threatening Ghostface Killah and demanding an apology while being surrounded by a group of masked men (shown below).

Arrest

On December 17th, 2015, Shkreli was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on charges of securities fraud and conspiracy charges in connection to his former position as the co-founder and CEO of the hedge fund MSMB Capital Management and biotechnology firm Retrophin LLC. According to the indictment,^[4] Shkreli allegedly misappropriated millions of dollars in cash and stock from Retrophin “in an effort to satisfy [his] personal and unrelated professional debts and obligations,” much of which were owed to his investors while serving as the CEO of MSMB Capital and MSMB Healthcare between 2009 and 2012, during which Shkreli repeatedly lied to them by grossly misrepresenting the performance of the fund. In addition to the federal indictment, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also filed a similar lawsuit accusing Shkreli of lying to his investors about the hedge fund he ran.

Following his arrest, the company KaloBios Pharmaceuticals terminated Shkreli as CEO. In December 2015, Shkreli resigned as CEO from Turing Pharmaceuticals.

Congressional Hearing

On February 4th, 2016, Shkreli appeared before the United States House Oversight and Government Reform Committee for a hearing on prescription drug prices. During the hearing, Shkreli pleaded the Fifth and declined from answering questions from members of Congress.

"The Life Of Pablo" Purchase Offer and Alleged Bitcoin Heist

On February 11th, 2016, directly after the live debut of the rap music album The Life Of Pablo at the New York basketball arena, Shrkeli sent a message to its creator, Kanye West, via Twitter, asking if he could buy the rights to the album for the purpose of it never becoming available for purchase.^[7] Shortly after, Shkreli wrote a letter to West with an official purchase request, accompanied with its terms and conditions (shown below).^[8] The initial offer was ten million US dollars, but it was raised to fifteen million dollars to increase the chance of the offer being accepted.

Three days later, Shkreli posted a series of tweets on Twitter, claiming that 15 million dollars worth of Bitcoins were stolen from him by a man named "Daquan" who posed as Kanye West's associate and asked Shrkeli for the money he offered for the album's rights.^[9] Less than an hour after the claim, he hosted a live chat on SpreeCast where he spoke with a man claiming to be Daquan's legal representative.^[10] Later that same day, Shrkeli said that he was "done with rap" after the incident and that he managed to reclaim the stolen Bitcoins with the help of Sitoshi, Bitcoin's creator.^[11][12]

Rap Album Announcement

On August 6th, 2016, Shkreli announced the upcoming release of his debut rap album via Twitter, along with an image of a tentative tracklist (shown below). Within hours of the announcement, Shkreli tweet prompted several dozens of replies from others on Twitter, many of whom questioned the genuineness of his claims, as well as a playful question from @Adamsa58 asking whether the album would feature a track dedicated to Harambe the Gorilla.

In response to @Adamsa58's question, Shkreli, in full embrace of his villainous online reputation, jokingly tweeted that he gunned down the internet famous gorilla. From there, what began as a discussion about Shkreli's rap album project on Twitter quickly devolved into a lengthy thread hypothesizing various ways to "resurrect" the late gorilla through the means of genetic engineering, including an email exchange with Dr. Yimin Chai, Chinese researcher who specializes in cytotherapy (shown below).

Later that same day, Shkreli tweeted a poll asking whether people would support raising the prices of cutting-edge medicines if it could guarantee the revival of Harambe (shown below).

Twitter Suspension

On January 5th, 2017, Teen Vogue staff writer Lauren Duca posted a screenshot of a direct message sent to her from Martin Shkreli asking if she would like to accompany him to Donald Trump's inauguration, stating that she would "rather eat my own organs" (shown below). In four days, the tweet gained over 73,000 likes and 19,000 retweets.^[15]

On January 8th, Shkreli changed his profile photo to a photoshopped image of him seated on a couch with Duca, and changed his cover image to several photographs of Duca captioned with lyrics from the 1994 R&B song "I Swear" by All-4-One. That day, Duca tweeted a screenshot of Shkreli's profile with the message "how is this allowed" directed to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey (shown below). Shortly after, Shkreli's account was suspended.

Also on January 8th, The Washington Post^[16] published an article about the suspension, noting that Shkreli replied that he did not speak to The Washington Post "because it is a 'trash extension of the left wing'.". Meanwhile, The Huffington Post^[17] published an article about the incident, noting that Shkreli responded to their request for comment with "lol suck a dick."

Pharma Skeletons

On January 23rd, 2017, Shkreli launched the website Pharma Skeletons^[18] to expose instances of criminal and unethical behavior committed by members of the pharmaceutical trade group PhRMA.

That day, Shkreli released a video on YouTube explaining why he created the website, where he listed various accusations made on Pharma Skeletons (shown below).

Also on January 23rd, the news site Stat News^[19] published an article about the new site, which contained a statement from Shkreli claiming he planned to continually update Pharma Skeletons with new information. In the coming days, other news sites published articles about the project, including Ars Technica,^[20] Fortune^[21] and Mediaite.^[22]

Wall Street Journal Prison Report

On March 7th, 2019, the Wall Street Journal^[23] reported on Shkreli's life in prison, including that he was still running his business, Phoenixus AG, with a contraband cell phone in prison. He had also been tweeting from a secret account in prison. One of the more commented upon aspects of the story revolved around Shkreli's behavior in prison, including that he "sees a prison therapist, takes care of the prison’s cats, and occasionally argues with his cellmates about proper grammar." One excerpt from the report reads:

He has made prison friends, including “Krispy” and “D-Block,” some of whom affectionately call him “Asshole,” according to people familiar with his new life. They walk alongside him in the hall to ward off shenanigans from other inmates. For reputational reasons they persuaded him to turn down a gig playing guitar in a prison band because the other members were locked up for child molestation.

Twitter user @maninthehoody tweeted "martin shkreli's friends in prison call him 'asshole' which is exactly what all of us not in prison call him too," gaining over 400 likes (shown below, left). User @popcultureism joked that Shkreli and Fyre Festival creator Billy McFarland would be friends (shown below, right). The online responses were covered by Uproxx.^[24]

Solitary Confinement

On April 1st, 2019, Forbes^[25] reported that because Shkreli had been discovered doing business from prison on a contraband phone, he had been placed in solitary confinement. However, his status could not be confirmed by the Bureau of Prisons. However, the news comes as a direct response to Shkreli continuing to run his business from prison.

Forbes' Thomas Brewster tweeted,^[26] "Martin Shkreli has been placed in solitary confinement after WSJ reported he was running a business from prison, sources say." The tweet recevied more than 1,800 retweets and 4,500 likes in 24 hours (shown below, left).

Following the news, others posted their thoughts on Shkreli and the practice of solitary confinement. Twitter^[27] user @alexisgoldstein tweeted, "Solitary confinement is torture and no one should be tortured not even Martin Shkreli don’t @ me" (shown below, center). Twitter^[28] @LukeLofgren tweeted a GIF of comedian and actor Larry David, "When you’re against solitary confinement but it’s Martin Shkreli on the other end." The post recieved more than 200 retweets and 1,000 likes in 24 hours (shown below, right).

Personal Life

Shkreli was born on April 1st, 1983 and grew up in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. According to NBC News,^[1] his parents were Albanian and Croatian immigrants who worked as janitors. After nearly dropping out of high school, he managed to receive a diploma through a work-study program. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Shkreli claims to have discovered an interest in chemistry after witnessing a family member struggle with depression. Shkreli is known to play League of Legends under the handle "Imagine Cerebral".

Search Interest

External References