Martin Shkreli, former chief executive officer of Turing Pharmaceuticals AG, exits court in New York, US, on Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2023.
Yuki Iwamura | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Infamous “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli violated his prison release conditions to appear on former Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s show on X, a court document showed Wednesday.
Shkreli, 40, failed to tell his probation officer that he was leaving his home in Queens, New York, for an in-person interview with Carlson in Maine, the officer wrote to a judge in federal court in Brooklyn.
“Notably, at no time did Shkreli advise the undersigned officer, nor any other officer within the Probation Department of his desire to travel out of state to participate in an interview,” the officer wrote.
But the officer wrote that “we are respectfully requesting that the Court take no action,” given Shkreli’s “otherwise positive adjustment.” The court granted that request.
Shkreli is working as a consultant for the Law Office of Christopher K. Johnston LLC and as a software developer for DL Software, according to the document.
He earns $6,967 monthly, has no remaining financial court obligations and continues to complete 20 hours of community service each month.
Shkreli’s attorney, Benjamin Brafman, declined CNBC’s request for comment.
Shkreli was released from a low-security federal prison in Pennsylvania in May 2022, more than four years after being sentenced for securities fraud charges.
The case related to accusations that Shkreli had defrauded hedge fund investors to found his first drug company, Retrophin.
It was unrelated to what made Shkreli a notorious household name: his decision in 2015 as then-CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals to raise the price of the drug Daraprim from $13.50 per pill to $750 per pill.
That move, and his unapologetic public statements about doing so, led to him earning the “Pharma Bro” nickname.
In his Nov. 6 appearance on Carlson’s show, Shkreli “mused on various topics related to his time in prison, upbringing, and prior business dealings,” the U.S. probation officer wrote in Wednesday’s court filing.
An officer became aware of the interview a day later, and the following week confronted Shkreli about it. Shkreli confirmed the studio was in Maine and that he had traveled there by plane and train, according to the filing.
He “continued to explain that his leaving the judicial district without permission, was a reaction to the perception that his previous supervising probation officer was often non-responsive to his requests for travel,” the officer wrote.
