‘ Most hated man’ now behind bars
His merciless HIV drug pricing made him one of the world’s most-hated men. Now ‘pharma bro’ Martin Shkreli has been put away
HE’S been dubbed the most hated man in the world, his own lawyer said he’d like to punch him in the face and he has the dubious distinction of uniting archenemies Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in mutual condemnation of him.
So-called “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli even made the Wolf of Wall Street – the dodgy character brought to life on the big screen by Leonardo DiCaprio – look like a lamb.
But Shkreli is going to have to adapt his arrogant way of life to a whole new set of rules now: he was recently convicted of securities fraud as well as conspiracy, and sentenced by a court in Brooklyn, New York, to seven years in jail.
But the former pharmaceutical company CEO’s trial has nothing to do with why he’s such a hated figure.
In 2015, as head of Retrophon and Turing Pharmaceuticals, he raised the price of a lifesaving HIV and cancer drug by a staggering 5 000% overnight, putting it out of reach for seriously ill and dying patients. Instead of being charged $13,50 (R162) per pill patients suddenly had to pay $750 (R9 000).
The outrageous move earned the biotech entrepreneur loathing and contempt across the board, including from Trump and Clinton.
Not that Shkreli (35) gave a hoot. In fact, he seemed to wallow in his image as public enemy No 1, launching a virulent online campaign trolling his critics and refusing to appear before a congressional committee for fixing drug prices.
While he was about it, he took to Twitter to label legislators as “imbeciles”.
But the rug was soon to be pulled out from under him. He was arrested later in 2015 after defrauding investors in a Ponzi scheme but argued in court that he shouldn’t be jailed because his investors all had their money returned to them.
Initially granted bail, he arrogantly mouthed off in public about his prospects, saying he didn’t believe he was ever going to see the inside of a jail cell.
“One person told me the inmates at the white-collar prison are gigantic, huge Shkreli supporters,” he told the Financial Times. But his bail was revoked after he offered his fans a reward to lop off a section of Clinton’s hair while she was in New York promoting her new memoir. “Five thousand dollars but the hair has to include a follicle,” he wrote on Facebook.
Judge Kiyo Matsumoto described the post as “a solicitation to assault in exchange for money that isn’t protected by the first amendment”.
And off to jail he went.
HE’S the ultimate self-made man with a real rags-to-riches story. Shrekli was born in 1983 on New York’s Coney Island to immigrant Albanian and Croatian parents, both of whom worked as janitors.
He became interested in stocks as a little boy and bought his first share when he was 12. While other kids were playing baseball, he was buying Amazon stocks and learning everything he could about public companies. People who knew him in high school said he was “captivated by Wall Street and would put in insane hours” learning about its workings, according to CNN Money.
He dropped out of high school and got his first job on Wall Street when he was 16, and went on to earn a college degree in 2004. Today his net worth is estimated at $70 million (about R840 million).
“Martin is the smartest guy in the room at all times,” one of his Wall Street colleagues told the New York Times.
“If you gave him a textbook on chemistry, he’d give it back to you in nine months and he’d have it memorised,” an early investor in one of Shkreli’s first drug companies says.
During his trial he was accused of dishonestly using investors’ cash between 2009 and 2014 by getting them to invest in two hedge funds he operated, MSMB Capital and MSMB Healthcare. It was alleged he inflated his companies’ profits and embezzled cash. Shkreli dismissed the trial as “a silly witch-hunt perpetrated by self-serving prosecutors”.
It’s a miracle the trial ever got off the ground. The HIV drug scandal was so infamous and Shkreli so despised that juror after juror had to be turned away after conceding they’d struggle to be objective. “I’m aware of the defendant and I hate him,” one declared. “I think he’s a greedy little man.”
Even his own defence lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, found it hard to warm to his client, saying, “There were times I wanted to punch him in the face for some of the things he said.”
In a Facebook post after his arrest in 2015, he made a crude remark about pop star Taylor Swift, and he was banned from Twitter after harassing a female journalist. He tried to open another account but Twitter shut that one down too. A music fanatic, Shkreli gained more notoriety when he locked horns with his beloved rap group Wu-Tang Clan. In 2015 he forked out $2 million (then R31 million) in an auction on a rare recording by the group. The rap band, unhappy about the sale going to the disgraced businessman, entered into a war of words with Shkreli, with rapper Ghostface Killah calling him a “s**thead”. The rappers dissed him in their song Lesson Learn’d off their 2017 album Wu-Tang: The Saga Continues. “My price hikin’ like the pills Martin Shkreli sell,” the lyrics go.
SHKRELI was arrogant throughout his trial and maintained his bravado on social media, giving defiant interviews and live-streaming himself talking to the camera.
So, except for Shkreli’s own, few tears were shed when Judge Matsumoto gave him his seven-year sentence.
He wept and told the judge he’d made many mistakes, adding, “The only person to blame for me being here is me.” He tried to claim he was “never motivated by money” and his detestable public persona was a deliberate attempt to build a reputation.
He was also ordered to forfeit $7,4 million (R88,8 million) in cash and assets, as well as a Picasso painting and the Wu-Tang Clan album.
The judge urged Shkreli to seek mental health treatment, citing emails he sent from prison where he said “F**k the feds” as evidence his stint behind bars had done little to improve his behaviour.
But she also cited acts of generosity and described him as “a gifted man with the capacity for kindness”.
Washington Post reporter Jacklyn Collier also saw the nice side of the pharma bro. She recalls going on a Tinder date with him and says, “I hate to disappoint the masses, but I had a pretty good time.
During the meal she said he seemed nervous and shy, talked a lot about his family and philanthropy and was a considerate and polite date.
The most jarring moment was when he ordered a cup of rare Japanese tea that cost $120 (R1 440), an ostentatious display of his wealth, she says.
They didn’t see each other again but Collier’s overall impression was positive.
“I’m not trying to excuse his professional behaviour or say he’s a good person but he’s a lot more interesting and complex than I’d have imagined.”
It seems Shkreli may finally be willing to take responsibility for his behaviour. During sentencing he told the judge, “There’s no government conspiracy to take down Martin Shkreli. I took down Martin Shkreli with my disgraceful and shameful actions.”
And now he’s paying the price.
Martin bought his first share when he was 12. While other kids were playing baseball, he was learning everything about public companies