Alright TNT, We'll Also Watch the Martin Shkreli Episode
By The Big Lead
Anyone watching the NBA playoffs have gotten their fill of advertisements on TNT trumpeting its Rich & Shameless series. Between the commercials and live reads, the full-court press has been ferocious. The Girls Gone Wild feature on founder Joe Francis lived up to decent expectations if for no other reason than it's a guilty pleasure to watch detestable people get under your skin with hindsight of knowing a comeuppance eventually came.
The next installment should deliver in that department as it chronicles the rise and fall of Martin Shkreli, dubbed the Pharma Bro. The former hedge fund manager oversaw a booming business after co-founding Turing Pharmaceuticals and obtaining the manufacturing license for Daraprim. He courted controversy, though, after raising the price by a multiple of 56.
Shkreli, who famously used some of his fortune to purchase the one and only copy of a Wu-Tang album, was convicted of securities frauds and conspiracy in 2017. In 2022, he was ordered to return over $64 million worth of profits.
He may also hold the distinction of having one of the lowest Q scores a public figure has ever carried. There was a time he was perceived as Public Enemy No. 1 in America before we moved on to the next one.