By Polina Chernykh
Updated
3 min read
America’s pharmaceutical villian, Martin Shkreli, has tricked out of millions of dollars in bitcoin after he concluded a fake agreement with a guy who said to be from Kanye’s team.
Martin Shkreli, 32, has claimed he lost $15 million in digital currency when attempting to acquire exclusive rights to a new album by Kanye West. According to the businessman, he was defrauded of his funds by a guy who pretended to be friends with Kanye.
Earlier, the former CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals bought rights to Wu Tang Clan’s album, “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin”, for $2 million. Shkreli threatened to erase the single copy, which won’t be released for 88 years.
Initially, Shkreli proposed Kanye $10 million in bitcoin for the album, but later raised the price to $15 million. He transferred the money to a guy named Daquan but got nothing in return.
WHO THE FUCK HAS MY FIFTEEN MILLION DOLLARS ?????????????????????????????????????
— Martin Shkreli (e/acc) (@MartinShkreli) February 14, 2016
SOMEONE NAMED DAQUAN SAID HE WAS KANYES BOY AND I SIGND THE DEAL TO BUY PALBO AND SENT THE BITCOIN. CALL THE POLICE THIS IS BULSHIT
— Martin Shkreli (e/acc) (@MartinShkreli) February 14, 2016
After realizing he was scammed, Shkreli continued to post angry tweets.
I hope you all enjoy this stupid music SO much and the fact it has brought me so much pain and suffering. I quit rap.
— Martin Shkreli (e/acc) (@MartinShkreli) February 14, 2016
A few hours later, he tweeted that the creator of bitcoin, Sitoshi, would help him return his funds.
Also, idiots, I've gotten in touch with Sitoshi (Bitcoin's creator) and he's agreed to help me get my money back. I always win.
— Martin Shkreli (e/acc) (@MartinShkreli) February 14, 2016
Besides, he is going to launch a GoFundMe page aiming to get the bitcoins back. Still, all cryptocurrency transactions can be easily verified and there were no transactions that matched his lost bitcoins.
Also, Shkreli expected the hip hop artist would skip his SNL Live performance and postpone the album. Kanye, however, gave the performance and made “The Life of Pablo” available to the public.
After all, Shkreli conducted a live chat, in which he unintentionally exposed the number of his credit card. One of the viewers couldn’t keep from sending a special delivery of 55-gallons of water-based lubricant to the entrepreneur’s home address.
Called by the media as “most hated man in America”, Shkreli is being widely criticized for his activities in the pharmaceutical sector.
In 2015, Shkreli provoked a huge backlash from politicians and pharmacist against his decision to increase prices on the 62-year-old drug Daraprim, a life-saving drug used by people diagnosed with AIDS. He boosted the cost of the medication from $13.50 to $750, saying the move was targeted at collecting money for research for rare diseases.
In December 2015, Shkreli was arrested on charges of securities fraud. The following day he left Turing Pharmaceuticals, which he set up in February 2015. The entrepreneur was accused of losing money for stockholders to pay debts.
According to Brooklyn U.S. Attorney, Shkreli “ran his company like a Ponzi scheme” to pay off his debtors. However, Shkreli denied his charged and was released on a $5 million bond.
Polina is an undergraduate student at Belarusian State Economic University (BSEU) where she is studying at the faculty of International Business Communication for a degree specializing in Intercultural Communication. In her spare time she enjoys drawing, music and travelling.
