'Pharma bro' Martin Shkreli's ex Christie Smythe says revelation about affair ended relationship
Disgraced "Pharma Bro" Martin Shkreli's ex girlfriend Christie Smythe claims that Shkreli left her after she went public with their relationship. ''I have no regrets" she further says. Smythe is a former Bloomberg journalist and the first to cover Shkreli's case in 2015. In her own words: "I was also, at the time, married. In theory I was the last person who should have been drawn into Martin’s orbit, but I ended up there all the same," she had said on what drew her to Shkreli. Shkreli was released from federal prison and into a halfway house on Wednesday, May 18, less than five years into a seven-year sentence
Shkreli, the 'Pharma Bro' became a symbol of corporate Wall Street greed in 2015 when he increased the price of a life-saving drug by 5000%. He had massively jacked up the sticker price of a toxoplasmosis drug while he was CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals and was also found guilty of securities fraud in 2018 earning him a seven-year-sentence. He had been dubbed “the most hated man in America.” News of his early prison release comes on the same day as Billy McFarland, the brains behind the infamously fraudulent Fyre Festival, also was released from jail early with a whole year left for him to serve.
RELATED ARTICLES
Shkreli posted a photo of himself in a grey sweatshirt on his Facebook page while leaving prison on Wednesday, May 18, with a caption: "Getting out of real prison is easier than getting out of Twitter prison." Shkreli was possibly referencing his suspension from Twitter in 2017, in the case of harassing a journalist. Earlier this year he was also permanently banned from running a public company in the pharmaceutical industry and was fined $64.6 million by a US court after the Federal Trade Commission and seven states brought a case against him.
Edmund Sullivan-- CFO of a company called The Project M Group posted a photo of himself with Shkreli in the car on Twitter, announcing his release and with a caption: “Picked up this guy hitchhiking. Says he’s famous,” he quipped.
Picked up this guy hitchhiking. Says he’s famous. pic.twitter.com/7XrQaII7lq
— Edmund Sullivan (@edmundsullivan) May 18, 2022
Shkreli's ex-girlfriend Smythe gave her statements regarding his release from prison. Smythe covered Shkreli's case in 2015 and in 2018, and left Bloomberg News. Smythe told The New York Post that, "I spoke to him a few days ago.” Hours after Shkreli’s release from Allenwood federal prison, she said, “I hope to see him and give him a hug. I’ll always have feelings for him.”
Shkreli will be transferred to a "community confinement" program, according to the US Bureau of Prisons. “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,” the statement said. Shkreli’s lawyer Benjamin Brafman confirmed his release. “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,” he said in a statement.
Speaking about her relationship with the infamous man Smythe said Shkreli dumped her after she made their relationship public. However, she has no regrets. “I’m still trying to figure it out,” Smythe said when asked about visiting Shkreli. Smythe said she hadn't been able to meet Shkreli because of the Covid-19 pandemic which grew her concern due to their lack of communication. And, she further revealed the reason behind their break-up, since they broke up while he was in prison. He dumped her.
“I decided to go public becаuse I wаs worried аbout him getting sick, аnd I knew he’d need someone in the press to аdvocаte for him if he got sick. He didn’t wаnt me to do thаt, аnd he wаs so аgаinst it thаt he ended our relаtionship over it becаuse it hurt his feelings thаt I wаs doing it. Since thаt аrticle cаme out, we hаve not been dаting quote-unquote. Right now, we’re just friends, аnd I hаve no plаns or intentions of doing аnything else. I’d like to keep in touch. I still cаre аbout him аnd wаnt him to be hаppy", Smythe said.
The two were once so close that she had her eggs frozen (part of the cost of which was paid by Shkreli’s family while he was in prison) and they spoke about having children together, according to a report by The New York Post. She further said, “He is such аn insаtiаbly curious individuаl...I don’t regret our relаtionship аt аll.”