The first time I heard about Martin Shkreli (estimated net worth of $200 million+) was a few months back when he was in the news for price-gouging. Since I’m a lazy asshole, I’m just gonna let Wikipedia describe it to you all

In accord with Shkreli’s business plan, one acquisition was of Daraprim (pyrimethamine), an FDA-approved therapeutic since 1953; acquired by Turing on August 10, 2015 (from Impax), its prominent use as of fall, 2015 is as an anti-malarial, and as an antiparasitic—in conjunction leucovorin and a sulfonamide—to treat patients with toxoplasmosis, including in AIDS populations. The acquisition from Impax Laboratories was for $55 million. The patent for Daraprim had long expired, and no generic version was available. The Turing-Impax deal included the condition that Impax remove the drug from regular wholesalers and pharmacies, so in June 2015, two months before the sale to Turing was announced, Impax switched to tightly controlled distribution. In keeping with their strategy for pricing in the face of limited competition (see above), Turing maintained the closed distribution.

On September 17, 2015, a story was broken by Dave Muoio of the Healio, an in-depth clinical information website for health care specialists, who reported on a letter from the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the HIV Medicine Association to executives at Turing, questioning a new pricing for Daraprim, a story which was picked up by USA Today and subsequently, with widening consequences, by the New York Times. The price of a dose of the drug in the U.S. market increased from $13.50 to $750 per pill, overnight, a 5,500% increase. The story was subsequently picked up by hundreds of news and other organizations, nationally and globally, with reference now being made to the story going viral.

The price increase was initially criticized, jointly, by the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the HIV Medicine Association, by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, and soon thereafter by political candidates Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Donald Trump.

I know this guy isn’t an SJW, at least that I know of, but his assholishness really stands out. Take a look at a recent tweet…

https://twitter.com/MartinShkreli/status/676455235066425344

Or this gem from HipHopDX

“To me, what I’m doing right now in the media,” Shkreli continues, “raising prices, all this shit, believe what you want, but it’s interesting. It gets people talking. At the end of the day, that’s what art is. I don’t know if I can translate the shit into rap or not, but I’ll try… In 500 years, they’re going to talk about rap the same way we talk about Shakespeare. I just want to throw my hat in the ring, that’s all. I don’t want to make money.”

CWcY-kaWoAAsZ-x
Dat perp walk

The reason he was being interviewed by HipHopDX in the first place was because he paid $2 million for the right to own a recent album from the Wu-Tang Clan. It’s not just any album, though. There was only one copy of Once Upon a Time in Shaolin ever made. The first time I read a somewhat in-depth profile of Mr. Shkreli was when he was being interviewed about this album. He comes off like a supreme dick, but I suppose that was the point. His media strategy seems to be based on being the biggest fuckwad in existence. I don’t think that’s going to pay off very well now, you guys. Expect a teary interview within the month (unless his legal team forbids is, that it).

Here’s an excerpt from that Wu-Tang article

Shkreli had arranged for the rap star Fetty Wap to perform for his employees. “Typically you would say, ‘As an average fan, I can’t get Fetty Wap to give me a personal concert,’ ” he says. “The reality is, sure you could. You know, at the right price these guys basically will do anything.”…

He hasn’t listened to Once Upon a Time in Shaolin yet. He’s saving that for a time when he’s feeling low and needs something to lift his spirits. “I could be convinced to listen to it earlier if Taylor Swift wants to hear it or something like that,” Shkreli says. “But for now, I think I’m going to kind of save it for a rainy day.”

I don’t think we’ll have to worry about Marty boy purchasing any more one of a kind albums. He’ll probably be saving all his excess cash for lawyer fees, at this point. Also, let’s be honest here. He’s so rich that I doubt he will actually do any jail, even though I had fun with the headline. Then again, they do seem to be pretty pissed at him, according to this Bloomberg report. Usually, they let a guy like him turn himself in. But that didn’t happen in this case…

Martin Shkreli, the boyish drug company entrepreneur, who rocketed to infamy by jacking up the price of a life-saving pill from $13.50 to $750, was arrested by federal agents at his Manhattan home early Thursday morning on securities fraud related to a firm he founded.

Shkreli, 32, ignited a firestorm over drug prices in September and became a symbol of defiant greed. The federal case against him has nothing to do with pharmaceutical costs, however. Prosecutors in Brooklyn charged him with illegally taking stock from Retrophin Inc., a biotechnology firm he started in 2011, and using it to pay off debts from unrelated business dealings. He was later ousted from the company, where he’d been chief executive officer, and sued by its board.

In the case that closely tracks that suit, federal prosecutors accused Shkreli of engaging in a complicated shell game after his defunct hedge fund, MSMB Capital Management, lost millions. He is alleged to have made secret payoffs and set up sham consulting arrangements. A New York lawyer, Evan Greebel, was also arrested early Thursday. He’s accused of conspiring with Shkreli in part of the scheme.

So maybe the feds really do wanna see this motherfucker do some time. I guess we’ll see, but I will say this: If he really does end up going to the Big House, it couldn’t’ have happened to a nicer guy.