Net Worth Ranker
What Is Martin Shkreli’s Net Worth?
As of the latest available information, Martin Shkreli’s net worth is estimated to be $0. However, it’s crucial to note that his financial situation has undergone significant changes due to legal battles, asset forfeitures, and financial penalties.
Martin Shkreli’s Rise and Fall: From Hedge Fund Manager to “Pharma Bro”
Martin Shkreli, an Albanian American entrepreneur, gained notoriety for his involvement in the pharmaceutical industry and subsequent legal troubles. Born on March 17, 1983, in Brooklyn, New York, Shkreli’s early life was marked by humble beginnings. His parents, immigrants to the United States, worked as janitors to support their family. Shkreli attended Hunter College High School but left before his senior year, completing his diploma at City-As-School High School.
At the age of 17, Shkreli secured an internship at Jim Cramer’s hedge fund, Cramer, Berkowitz, and Company. He later graduated from Baruch College in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration.
Shkreli’s finance career began at Cramer Berkowitz, where he recommended short-selling Regeneron’s stock, a biotech company testing a weight-loss drug. This move proved profitable for Cramer when Regeneron’s stock price declined. After spending four years at Cramer Berkowitz as an intern and associate, Shkreli transitioned to financial analyst roles at two large investment banks.
In 2006, Shkreli ventured into entrepreneurship by founding his own hedge fund, Elea Capital Management. However, the following year, Lehman Brothers sued Elea in New York State court, alleging that Shkreli made an unsuccessful bet and lacked the funds to repay Lehman Brothers when the shorted stock increased in value. Although the bank won a $2.3 million judgment against Shkreli in October 2007, Lehman Brothers collapsed before collecting the judgment.
Undeterred, Shkreli launched MSMB Capital Management in 2009. His strategy involved shorting biotech companies and then discussing their flaws in online stock trading forums. However, another misjudgment led to significant losses when Shkreli shorted 32 million shares of a biotech company the day after its stock price dropped. This transaction, conducted through Merrill Lynch, resulted in a $7 million loss for the firm when the stock price recovered, effectively wiping out MSMB Capital.
In 2011, Shkreli established Retrophin to pursue further biotech investments, focusing on companies developing treatments for rare diseases. However, Retrophin’s board removed Shkreli from the company in the fall of 2014. Subsequently, Retrophin filed a $65 million lawsuit against Shkreli, alleging stock-trading irregularities and securities rule violations.
In February 2015, Shkreli founded Turin Pharmaceuticals, later renamed Turing Pharmaceuticals. The company gained notoriety when it acquired the rights to Daraprim, an HIV treatment drug, and subsequently raised the price per pill from $13.50 to $750, marking an increase of over 5,000%. This decision sparked public outrage and earned Shkreli the nickname “Pharma Bro.” Daraprim, previously affordable and accessible, was crucial for treating AIDS-related and AIDS-unrelated toxoplasmosis. Shkreli actively sought to prevent generic versions of the drug from entering the market.
In November 2015, Turing announced that it would not reduce the list price of Daraprim. Instead, Shkreli hired lobbyists and a crisis PR firm to justify the price hike.
According to his legal team, Martin Shkreli’s peak net worth reached $70 million, primarily stemming from his stake in Turing Pharmaceuticals. However, this fortune was significantly impacted by legal proceedings and asset forfeitures.
Legal Battles and Asset Forfeiture: The Erosion of Martin Shkreli’s Net Worth
On December 17, 2015, Shkreli was arrested by the FBI and charged with securities fraud in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. He was accused of running a Ponzi-like scheme during his time at MSMB Capital Management and Retrophin. While Shkreli claimed that his price hikes of Daraprim led to his targeting by law enforcement, the charges were not directly related to this action.
During his 2017 trial, Shkreli argued that none of his investors actually lost money, claiming that some even turned a profit, thereby negating any criminal activity. However, on August 4, 2017, the trial jury found Shkreli guilty on two counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, while acquitting him on five other counts.
On March 9, 2018, Shkreli was sentenced to seven years in federal prison. He appealed the conviction, but in 2019, an appeals court upheld the jury verdict. The original judgment remained in effect, requiring Shkreli to serve his 7-year sentence and forfeit more than $7.3 million in assets. The forfeiture included $5 million from his ETrade account and $2.36 million worth of other assets, such as a Pablo Picasso painting and an unreleased Wu-Tang Clan album.
In January 2020, New York Attorney General Letitia James filed an additional lawsuit against Shkreli for hiking the price of Daraprim. The lawsuit alleged that Shkreli’s company suppressed competition to protect its exorbitant pricing of Daraprim, which is the only FDA-approved medication to treat toxoplasmosis. The suit sought to end Shkreli’s company’s contract for the drug and offer monetary relief to the victims. The attorney general also sought a lifetime ban for Shkreli from the pharmaceutical industry.
The lawsuit claimed that consumers and other Daraprim buyers would have saved tens of millions of dollars by purchasing generic versions of the drug, which do not exist on the market today. Shkreli’s attorney issued a statement saying: “Mr. Shkreli looks forward to defeating this baseless and unprecedented attempt by the FTC to sue an individual for monopolizing a market.”
Shkreli also faced a federal lawsuit brought by the Federal Trade Commission and a group of state attorneys general from Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Virginia, California, New York, Ohio, and Illinois for blocking generic competition to Daraprim.
In January 2022, Martin Shkreli was banned from working in the pharmaceutical industry for life and ordered to return the $64.6 million in profits he earned from price-gouging Daraprim. These legal actions and financial penalties have significantly diminished his net worth, leading to the current estimate of $0.
Controversies and Public Image: Martin Shkreli’s Impact
Shkreli’s actions and public statements have often courted controversy. He offered his Facebook followers $5,000 to grab a strand of Hillary Clinton’s hair during her book tour, resulting in a federal judge revoking his bail. In 2019, the Bureau of Prisons opened an investigation into Shkreli after reports surfaced that he was running his pharmaceutical company from prison using a cell phone, a violation of federal regulations.
During the 2016 election, Shkreli donated $2,700 to Bernie Sanders’s campaign for president. In 2016, Shkreli wrote an offer letter to Kanye West to buy his album The Life of Pablo, originally offering $10 million and later increasing it to $15 million.
In 2017, a judge approved Shkreli’s request to travel outside of New York City while awaiting sentencing to speak at Harvard University. Prior to that, the University of California, Davis invited Shkreli to speak at an event hosted by the school’s student Republican Club, although the event was canceled after protesters barricaded the venue’s entrance. Shkreli was also allowed to travel to D.C. in January 2016 to attend President Trump’s inauguration.
In May 2020, Shkreli appealed to the courts, seeking release from prison to work on a coronavirus vaccine. However, U.S. District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto sided with probation officials who described Shkreli’s aim of developing a coronavirus cure as delusional and narcissistic behavior. Shkreli also did not meet the terms of compassionate release, as he was not at high risk for COVID-19, and the prison he was serving time in did not have a high caseload of positive coronavirus tests.
Shkreli’s acquisition of the Wu-Tang Clan album “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin” for $2 million in 2015 further added to his notoriety. He later listed the album on eBay, where it sold for $1,025,100.00. However, as Shkreli was incarcerated before the sale could be completed, the album was seized along with his other assets.
In December 2016, Shkreli was served with a tax warrant for $1.26 million in unpaid taxes by the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. He has been dubbed the “Pharma Bro” by the media and has also been called the “Most Hated Man in America.”
