Feds investigate Martin 'Pharma Bro' Shkreli for allegedly running a drug business from prison
Even a court-ordered seven-year stint to federal prison may not have stopped Martin Shkreli from slinging drugs.
Shkreli was sentenced by a Brooklyn federal court judge in 2018 for securities and conspiracy charges that stemmed from an investigation into his company, Turing Pharmaceuticals AG, for hiking up the price of a life-saving medication.
The baby-faced felon, known as “Pharma Bro,” may be in trouble, again, for running his former pharmaceutical business from the Federal Correctional Institution in Fort Dix, New Jersey, using a contraband cell phone, The Wall Street Journal first reported.
The Bureau of Prisons confirmed to ABC News on Tuesday that they are investigating the allegations of misconduct by the Brooklyn, New York, native.
Shkreli’s trial attorney, Benjamin Brafman, declined to comment.
The Bureau said if the accusations against Shkreli sustained, they would take appropriate action.
Investigators did not confirm or comment upon whether Shkreli was in solitary confinement in federal prison, as reported by Forbes. Shkreli is currently serving a seven-year sentence on a securities fraud conviction.
In August 2015, Shkreli gained scrutiny for inflating the price of Daraprim, a medication used to treat patients with malaria or HIV/AIDS, by a multiple of 50. He was convicted in 2017.
Shkreli resigned as chief executive of Turing a few days after his arrest, but the Wall Street Journal cited several sources who said he was still in essence running the company under the name Phoenixus AG, with hopes that it could be worth $3.7 billion by his scheduled release in 2023.
Shkreli also became known to flaunt his profits from the drug inflation – and his infatuation with hip-hop music – when he paid $2 million through an auction for only copy of Wu Tang Clan’s “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin” and obtained a copy of Lil Wayne’s “The Carter V” before it was released.
One of the conditions of Shkreli’s federal sentence was to forfeit $7.36 million in assets which included the one-of-a-kind Wu Tang Clan album.
The Journal's account of Shkreli's time in prison seemed like an active one, despite having downsized from a Midtown, New York City, apartment to his low security prison.
"He has made prison friends, including 'Krispy' and 'D-Block,' some of whom affectionately call him 'A------,' according to people familiar with his new life. They walk alongside him in the hall to ward off shenanigans from other inmates. For reputational [sic] reasons they persuaded him to turn down a gig playing guitar in a prison band because the other members were locked up for child molestation," the Journal reported.
