In case you haven’t heard, Martin Shkreli – aka Pharma Bro – was recently sentenced to prison. His crime, you ask? Committing securities fraud. “The Most Hated Man in America” is now considered a convicted felon.
Back in 2015, news of Shkreli started swirling after he gained the manufacturing license of a life-saving HIV/AIDS drug. He raised its selling price to 56 times the original. How nice.
As for Shkreli’s fraud scheme, people have compared it to him running a Ponzi-like pyramid. He was convicted in August of 2017 for his crime. Shkreli invested people’s money, lost it, lied to the investors about it, and then stole from his own drug company to pay back his clients. He gained about $7.36 million from the plot. Seems as though Shkreli got what was coming for him, however. On Monday, a federal judge ordered Shkreli to pay back the US government that $7.36 million. Karma, bro.
There is a slight twist here. The government could not find any trace of those millions of dollars. As an alternative, an FBI agent filed a court order that said the agency was going to take some of Shkreli’s expensive material possessions instead. Not shockingly, Shkreli had flaunted these items to the media. Judge Kiyo Matsumoto gave the green light on Monday. There goes your Picasso painting, Shkreli.
Among other belongings, Shkreli had to give up a brokerage account worth $5 million, an extremely rare Lil Wayne album, and Once Upon a Time in Shaolin – the one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album he bought for $2 million.
While Shkreli will have to give up that Wu-Tang album regardless, Bloomberg recently questioned its authenticity. The album might not be worth as much as Shkreli paid for it. As always, a collectible is only worth what a buyer is willing to pay. Further, the substitutions don’t count towards any restitution or penalty the judge may later enforce.
Martin Shkreli has bragged in the past that he is not afraid of prison. He was just sentenced to 7 years behind bars, however, at his Friday, March 9th trial. Have fun in there, Pharma Bro!
Want more details on that Wu-Tang album? Click here.
