Martin Shkreli released from prison Wednesday after serving less than five years of a seven-year sentence, his attorney 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,” his attorney, Ben Brafman, said in a statement.
Brafman added that he had advised Shkreli to refrain from making any further public statements while in the halfway house.
An FCI Allenwood spokesperson confirmed Shkreli’s release and told The Post that Shkreli was expected to be released from a halfway house in New York State in September, according to a spokesperson for the prison. Shkreli was convicted in 2017 of defrauding investors in several of his hedge funds.
For his role in the price gouging of Daraprim as CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals in 2015, he was a household name and an outspoken critic. The price of the drug, which is used to treat infections that occur in cancer and AIDS patients, soared overnight.
Picked up this guy hitchhiking. Says he’s famous. pic.twitter.com/7XrQaII7lq
— Edmund Sullivan (@edmundsullivan) May 18, 2022
The price of a single pill rose from $13.50 to $750, a whopping 5,500% increase. Shkreli defended the price increase at the time as an example of capitalism in action.
Since then, Shkreli has been prohibited from working in the pharmaceutical industry again. In addition, he has been ordered to return the $64 million profit his company made from price gouging.
Despite his notoriety, Shkreli’s release was lauded on the internet. Shkreli’s release was announced via Twitter by a user going by the handle Edmund Sullivan.
“I picked up this guy.” With an image of an ex-con in a car, he wrote: “Says he’s famous.”