Martin Shkreli is the hedge fund millionaire who bought a drug that treats AIDS patients, and immediately raised the price to $750 per tablet—a more than 3,000% increase.
He soon became the most hated man on the Internet (with both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders denouncing his greed), but his arrogance truly knows no bounds.
First, he reneged on the price increase—while insisting it was still justified, and only because of all the bad press he's been getting.
Then, Shrkeli gave the maximum legal donation to Bernie Sanders’ campaign ($2,700) because he thought he could then request a meeting—and present his case as to why the price hike was justified.
Apparently, he thought (like many millionaires) that he can buy access to a politician—but instead got a rude awakening. Not only did Sanders refuse to meet with him, but he gave the $2,700 donation to an AIDS charity.
And now, Bernie Sanders is using Shkreli to raise even more money for his campaign and is calling for a congressional investigation to look into the price gouging:
As an over-entitled Pharma-bro, Martin Shkreli did not expect such a reaction and his Twitter feed is mandatory reading if you enjoy watching a car accident:
But despite becoming the most hated man in America, Shkreli insists that he did nothing wrong and that somehow he is a misunderstood folk hero.
Ewwwwww. Who would want to date such a douchebag? Of course, a friend of mine on Facebook responded best to this tweet:
There are women that wanted to date Charles Manson, I think a better measure are the women that won't
I know that Martin Shkreli is an attention whore whose Twitter feed should be ignored, but I just can't help watching it. He's like a car accident.
UPDATE: My colleague Jen Hayden has more on Pharma-Bro.