It’s been a week of karmic retribution for pharmaceutical mogul, Martin Shkreli. The man increased the price of a vital drug used to treat Aids more than 55-fold. He bought the one of a kind Wu-Tang album for $2 million and then smugly said he’d never share it with anyone, instead live-streaming him making a list of all the massive A-list musicians he’d pay to make an exclusive album just for him. Then a few days ago he was arrested for fraud, suspected of plundering a firm he founded to pay off personal debts.
After his arrest, Shkreli announced his resignation as CEO of Turning Pharmaceuticals. He spoke out about the allegations on his Twitter saying, “I am confident I will prevail. The allegations against me are baseless and without merit.” Whether they are or not, public opinion has him solidified as the one of the most unpopular men of the year.
Earlier this year, Shkreli had given $15,000 to Community Solutions, a New York-based homelessness charity. According to the Guardian, the organisation decided to give back the entire donation due to the pharmaceutical mogul’s questionable business practices. “We serve people who depend on access to Aids meds every day, and as an organisation I don’t think we can keep this money,” Jake Maguire, a spokesperson for the organisation said.
They aren’t the only ones who don’t want his cash. Students from Hunter College High are asking the school to return Shkreli’s $1 million donation. Since he didn’t actually graduate from his former school, some classmates believed his donation was a “sly act of one-upmanship”, according to the New York Times.
People don’t want blood money, even when they need it. There’s a Christmas moral in there somewhere.
