Disgraced ‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli Is Reportedly Still Running His Company From Prison

If you ask most people, “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli is the world’s leading proof that karma is real, and that it works. A pharmaceutical company executive who is now infamous for jacking up the price of a drug meant for HIV-positive newborn babies from $13.50 to $750, he’s currently serving time in prison for fraud and won’t be released until 2023. But according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal, Pharma Bro Martin Shkreli is continuing to run his Phoenixus AG company (formerly Turing Pharmaceuticals AG) from behind bars, using a contraband phone to do so.

Before he was sentenced to seven years in prison last year, Martin Shkreli was known as one of the most hated men in the world. (See that sentence above about exploiting a drug for newborns with HIV.) In addition to his gouging the price of 62-year-old drug Daraprim, he made headlines when he paid $2 million for an exclusive Wu-Tang album, bragged about the Picasso painting he owned and offered to pay $5,000 if someone delivered him a hair sample belonging to Hillary Clinton.

But karma did indeed ‘kick in.’

As The Daily Beast points out, “The album and the painting were taken as part of $7.36 million of assets seized by the courts, and his Facebook post about Clinton cost him his bail for ‘solicitation of assault.’”

But it looks like karma hasn’t worked enough, as this new WSJ report is shocking to hear for those who expected this despicable man to receive a just punishment. The report claims Pharma Bro Martin Shkreli is “at work on a big second act” from his top bunk in a 12-person prison cell in New Jersey.

Only 16 months into his prison sentence, it’s said Shkreli uses a contraband phone to conduct business, including keeping up to date on pharmaceutical research and managing his company’s staff.

It’s being reported that just a few weeks ago he called his company’s CEO while the man was on a safari vacation to fire him (though he later agreed to just “suspend” the executive).

The WSJ reports that Pharma Bro Martin Shkreli is expecting to leave prison in 2023 worth nearly $4 billion. To do so he’s hoping to lead his company to acquire more rare drugs and invest in their research and development (and perhaps engage in a little more price gouging, no doubt).

Meanwhile, the FBI is supposedly onto Shkreli and his actions, who have been interviewing people at the Phoenixus company about his role in business decisions.

Are you surprised to hear this latest news about Pharma Bro Martin Shkreli?

Featured image by Mark Wilson / Getty Images