There are sociopaths, and then there's Martin Shkreli, who seems to delight in being the worst human on the planet. Shkreli made his name as the "Pharma Bro" who was sentenced to seven years for securities fraud (he was released early) after he cornered the market on an antiparasite medication, and hiked its price 5,000%. For good measure, he persuaded the journalist covering his trial to leave her husband for him, and then casually dumped her. Now, Shkreli is back in the news for an audacious crypto hustle that seeks to trade on the Trump family name.
The scheme revolves around a memecoin called DJT (the former president's initials) that launched a few months ago, and recently went on a tear amid rumors it had the backing of the Trump clan. Industry veterans were skeptical, but the unfounded rumors got traction in light of Trump's newfound embrace of crypto as well as the current craze for memecoins. By Tuesday, things had gotten to the point where research firm Arkham offered a $150,000 bounty to anyone who could prove the identity of DJT's creator.
