‘Pharma bro’ Martin Shkreli released from prison

Martin Shkreli, the notorious so-called “Pharma bro” who garnered controversy when he significantly raised the price of AIDS medication, was released from prison on Wednesday.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed Shkreli’s release in a statement.

“We can confirm Martin Shkreli transferred on May 18, 2022, from the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Allenwood Low to community confinement overseen by the Bureau of Prisons’ (BOP) New York Residential Reentry Management (RRM) Office,” said the BOP.

Shkreli is set to be released from community confinement on Sept. 14, 2022.

In a statement, Shkreli’s attorney Benjamin Brafman said, “I am pleased to report that Martin Shkreli has been released from Allenwood prison and transferred to a BOP halfway house after completing all programs that allowed for his prison sentence to be shortened.”

“While in the halfway house I have encouraged Mr. Shkreli to make no further statement, nor will he or I have any additional comments at this time,” added Brafman.

Shkreli was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2018 for two counts of securities fraud and one count of securities fraud conspiracy on charges that he deceived investors into giving millions to his company.

In 2015, Shkreli’s former company Turing Pharmaceuticals acquired Daraprim, an anti-parasite medication used by AIDS patients, and raised the price from $13.50 a tablet to $750 per tablet. This move elicited waves of outcry against Shkreli, with patients accusing him of exploiting those who needed the medication to stay healthy.

Shkreli was also ordered in 2018 to forfeit $7.36 million in assets, including a Picasso painting and the only copy of the Wu-Tang Clan album “Once Upon A Time in Shaolin.” 

In January, it was announced by New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) that a federal court had ruled in favor of banning Shkreli from the pharmaceutical industry for life.

On social media on Wednesday, one Twitter user named Edmund Sullivan posted a picture of what appeared to be Shkreli in a sweatshirt. The tweet read, “Picked up this guy hitchhiking. Says he’s famous.” The name Edmund Sullivan was previously given for an associate of Shkreli’s in court documents by the Justice Department.

Throughout his time in prison, Shkreli made multiple attempts to secure early release. In the opening months of the pandemic, Shkreli requested release to research potential COVID-19 treatments, which a U.S district judge dismissed as “delusional.”