53 Facts About Martin Shkreli

Martin Shkreli is an American investor and businessman.

In September 2015, Martin Shkreli was widely criticized when Turing obtained the manufacturing license for the antiparasitic drug Daraprim and raised its price to insurance companies from $13.50 to $750.00 per pill.

In 2017, Martin Shkreli was convicted in federal court on two counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy.

Martin Shkreli is permanently banned from serving as an officer of any publicly traded company.

Martin Shkreli was born in Coney Island Hospital in the New York City borough of Brooklyn on March 17,1983.

Martin Shkreli's parents were Roman Catholic, and he said his religion has been "a guiding post" for him, although he does not believe in God.

Martin Shkreli's parents emigrated to the United States from Albania and worked as janitors.

Martin Shkreli's family descend from the Shkreli tribe in Albania.

Martin Shkreli was raised Catholic and attended Sunday school as a child.

Sources differ on whether Martin Shkreli graduated from Hunter or whether he was expelled before his senior year and received the credits necessary for his high school diploma through City-As-School High School.

Martin Shkreli ended up in a program that placed him in an internship at Wall Street hedge fund Cramer, Berkowitz and Company when he was 17.

Martin Shkreli received a bachelor's degree in business administration from Baruch College in 2004.

Martin Shkreli told Vanity Fair that he developed an interest in chemistry when a family member suffered from treatment-resistant depression.

Martin Shkreli's prediction drew the attention of the Securities and Exchange Commission, which investigated Martin Shkreli's knowledge about the stock but was unable to prove wrongdoing on his part.

Martin Shkreli then started his first hedge fund, Elea Capital Management, in 2006.

When stocks rose, Martin Shkreli did not have the money to cover his losses.

In 2011, Martin Shkreli filed requests with the FDA to reject a new cancer diagnostic device from Navidea Biopharmaceuticals and an inhalable insulin therapy from MannKind Corporation while publicly short-selling both companies' stocks, the values of which dropped after Martin Shkreli's interventions.

Martin Shkreli founded Retrophin in 2011 under the MSMB umbrella and ran it as a portfolio company with an emphasis on biotechnology, to create treatments for rare diseases.

In December 2012, Martin Shkreli was chosen for the Forbes 30 Under 30.

Martin Shkreli invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in order to avoid testifying during civil depositions.

Martin Shkreli's name is on two patents held by Retrophin for drugs to treat PKAN.

Martin Shkreli launched Turing with three drugs in development acquired from Retrophin: An intranasal version of ketamine for depression, an intranasal version of oxytocin, and Vecamyl for hypertension.

Martin Shkreli set a business strategy for Turing: To obtain licenses on out-of-patent medicines, and reevaluate the pricing of each in pursuit of windfall profits for the new company, without the need to develop and bring its own drugs to market.

Martin Shkreli pledged that no patient needing Daraprim would ever be denied access.

Martin Shkreli was facing a Bureau of Prisons investigation into his breaking federal prison rules, since federal inmates are prohibited both from running a business from prison and from possessing cell phones.

In November 2015, an investor group led by Martin Shkreli acquired a majority stake in KaloBios Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company based in South San Francisco, California.

Martin Shkreli was named CEO of the company and planned to continue in the role of CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals.

An account believed to belong to Martin Shkreli claimed, in explanation, to have been hacked.

Martin Shkreli was subpoenaed to appear before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the US House of Representatives to answer questions about the Daraprim price increase.

On February 4,2016, Shkreli appeared before the House committee, along with Nancy Retzlaff, the Chief Commercial Officer of Turing, and Howard B Schiller, the interim CEO of Valeant.

Martin Shkreli refused to answer even seemingly trivial questions outside the subject matter of the hearing, including those pertaining to his purchase of a Wu-Tang Clan album.

On December 17,2015, Martin Shkreli was arrested by the FBI after a federal indictment in the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York was filed, charging him with securities fraud.

In early 2016, Martin Shkreli retained criminal defense attorney Benjamin Brafman to defend him.

At his 2017 trial, Martin Shkreli argued that none of his investors actually lost money and thus his actions did not constitute a crime.

Martin Shkreli said he was delighted with the outcome and described his prosecution as "a witch hunt of epic proportions".

Martin Shkreli's post was preceded by others that suggested he might have plans to clone Hillary Clinton.

Martin Shkreli said that his post was satire, and his lawyer described it as tasteless but not a threat.

Martin Shkreli edited the post to add a disclaimer that it was satire, and later said he did this minutes after publication.

Martin Shkreli was sent to the Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn while awaiting sentencing.

On March 9,2018, Martin Shkreli was sentenced to seven years in federal prison.

In 2019, Martin Shkreli lost his appeal; the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit unanimously affirmed the conviction in a seven-page ruling.

The court ordered that if Martin Shkreli had insufficient cash to fulfill the forfeiture order, his assets, including a piece of art by Pablo Picasso, would be sold to do so.

On March 27,2018, it was reported that Judge Kiyo Matsumoto agreed to recommend Martin Shkreli serve his prison sentence at the minimum-security federal camp at USP Canaan, which he had previously requested.

Martin Shkreli asked the court for compassionate release in April 2020, saying that he should be allowed to live at the New York City apartment of his then-fiancee and that his firm needed him to develop a remedy for COVID-19.

Martin Shkreli made partial payments and the State recovered another $134,500 from the auctioning off of various assets seized from Shkreli; these included an Enigma machine for $65,000, a manuscript signed by Isaac Newton, and letters from Charles Darwin and Ada Lovelace.

The court found that Martin Shkreli had violated federal and state law through an anticompetitive scheme to delay "the entry of generic competition for at least eighteen months" and banned Martin Shkreli from the pharmaceutical industry for life.

On February 23,2022, US District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto of the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York ordered Martin Shkreli to pay a $1.39 million fine for violating securities laws between 2009 and 2014 and banned him from serving as an officer or a director of any publicly traded company for life.

In December 2020, Martin Shkreli was in a relationship with Christie Smythe, a former reporter for Bloomberg News who broke the news of Martin Shkreli's arrest in 2015.

Martin Shkreli denied Vanity Fairs request for comment and blocked the author of the article on Twitter.

Martin Shkreli later founded his own team, Odyssey eSports, and aimed to qualify for the 2015 North American League of Legends Challenger Series, but the team failed.

Martin Shkreli shared the intro and one track, the day after Trump was elected.

Martin Shkreli was incarcerated before the sale could be completed.

In June 2024, Martin Shkreli was sued by a cryptocurrency collective that bought the album for about $5 million; they claimed Martin Shkreli secretly made digital copies in violation of their deal and distributed them to his friends and followers online.