'Pharma Bro' Martin Shkreli Released Early From Prison

Former pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli was released from prison Wednesday after serving part of his seven year sentence after he was convicted of securities fraud.

Shkreli was sentenced in 2018 after he was found guilty of defrauding investors in two hedge funds and a former drug company, Retrophin, according to NBC.

In 2019, Shkreli was placed in solitary confinement after he was discovered with a contraband cell phone he used to conduct business.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons said in a statement that Shkreli as transferred from a low-security federal prison in Allentown, Pennsylvania to a community confinement program which is equivalent with a halfway house. His final release date will be in September.

Dubbed ‘Pharma Bro,’ Shkreli gained notoriety when his company acquired the rights to Daraprim, a medication which those with weakened immune systems, such as AIDS and cancer patients, rely upon. His company raised the price from $13.50 a dose to $750 for a single pill in 2015.

Earlier this year, Shkreli was ordered by U.S. District Judge Denise Cote to return the $64.6 million in profits he gained by raising the price of Daraprim, and barred him from working in the pharmaceutical industry for the rest of his life, per Politico.