Reporter who covered Pharma Bro Martin Shkreli arrest reveals relationship with him
22 Dec, 2020 06:24 AM
7 minutes to read
New York Times Your honour, finding love with Martin was a great joy for me. In April, journalist Christie Smythe wrote those words to a federal judge about Martin Shkreli, the widely vilified former pharmaceutical executive who is serving a seven-year sentence on a fraud conviction.
Smythe, 37, wrote to Judge Kiyo Matsumoto of the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York on April 14 as part of an emergency motion filed by Shkreli s lawyers requesting a compassionate release. They argued that Shkreli, who gained infamy for raising the price of a lifesaving drug by 5000 per cent, would be able to work on a cure for Covid-19 and could avoid contracting the virus himself if he were released from prison.
(AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
We spend a lot of time covering the sociopaths in politics. According to the American Psychiatric Association, they make up 3-5 percent of the population. But they are also prevalent in business and in the media too. The sad and frightening tale of the twisted relationship between journalist Christie Smythe and Martin Shkreli is also a cautionary one.
Christie Smythe was the Bloomberg News journalist who broke, then followed up on Martin Shkreli, the “Pharma Bro” who jacked up the price of a life-saving drug Daraprim by 5,000 percent overnight. Shkreli is notably a horrible human being; most everyone who has covered his story believes this. But for reasons not even known to Smythe, she upended her entire life to be with him.
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A financial reporter who broke the story of one of America’s most reviled fraudsters has left her marriage and her job after falling in love with him.
Christie Smythe, a journalist with the Bloomberg news agency, disclosed in 2015 that Martin Shkreli dubbed the “Pharma Bro” for manipulating the price of medicines was under investigation for trading violations.
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The brash New York hedge fund boss, serving a seven-year jail sentence, was branded “a new icon of modern greed” after raising the price of a life-saving drug 5,000 per cent.