

Martin Shkreli is the smirking, remorseless poster child for trumpism: a serial fraudster who leavened his ponzi schemes by presiding over pharmaceutical price-gouging.



Shkreli is currently on trial for stock-manipulation, dating from his days running the biopharmaceutical company Retrophin. The top exhibit is a letter that Shkreli sent to the wife of Tim Pierotti, who ran Shkreli's hedge fund, and who Shkreli is accused of using to launder the illegal sale of Retrophin.

In the letter, Shkreli wrote: "Your husband has stolen $1.6 million from me. Your pathetic excuse of a husband needs to get a real job that does not depend on fraud to succeed. I hope to see you and your four children homeless. I will do whatever I can to assure this. Your husband's arrogance is infuriating, and making an enemy out of me is a mistake."



He said Mr. Shkreli encouraged the group to pump up the stock's trading volume, telling them to "buy it, sell it, buy it, sell it." Then, Mr. Shkreli began pressuring Mr. Pierotti to sell the shares back to him, Mr. Pierotti testified. In an email in late December 2012, Mr. Shkreli wrote that working on Retrophin together was "a big mistake," and "all you have to do is agree to this and the nightmare will end for everyone." Mr. Pierotti said he did not know what Mr. Shkreli had meant by the Retrophin reference. He never worked for Retrophin, he said. Mr. Shkreli phoned Mr. Pierotti "screaming" to demand the shares, then emailed saying he was suing, according to Mr. Pierotti's testimony and court records. Then, Mr. Shkreli wrote the letter to Mr. Pierotti's wife. The "$1.6 million" is roughly what 400,000 Retrophin shares would have sold for at that time. All told, Mr. Pierotti testified, he received only 350,000 of the Retrophin shares, and sold them for $1.5 million.



Former Employee Testifies Shkreli Threatened Him and His Family [Stephanie Clifford/NY Times]

(via Late Stage Capitalism)