Martin Shkreli.
Martin Shkreli, the disgraced former CEO and hedge fund manager derisively known as “Pharma Bro,” was released early from a Pennsylvania federal prison Wednesday, according to multiple outlets.
Shkreli was discharged to an undisclosed halfway house in New York State after serving slightly more than four years of a seven-year sentence behind bars in Allenwood, Penn.,CNBCreports. The outlet says a combination of good behavior while in prison and the completion of rehabilitation programs contributed to the fact that Shkreli, 39, was let out sooner than expected.
According toNBC News, he is scheduled to be released from the halfway house in September.
“I am pleased to report that Martin Shkreli has been released from Allenwood prison and transferred to a [Bureau of Prisons] halfway house after completing all programs that allowed for his prison sentence to be shortened,” his lawyer, Ben Brafman, said in a statement perThe Washington Post.
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Shkreli also confirmed his early release with aFacebook poston Wednesday.
“Getting out of real prison is easier than getting out of Twitter prison,” he captioned a selfie, referring to his Twitter ban following the alleged harassment of a journalist on the social media platform.
Shkreli made headlines in 2015 when his company Turing Pharmaceuticals obtained exclusive rights to the lifesaving medication Daraprim. Used to treat toxoplasmosis, a disease that is damaging to cancer patients, pregnant women and people living with HIV/AIDS, he immediately raised the price from $13.50 per pill to $750.
Shkreli was later arrested and convicted on fraud charges in his role as a hedge fund manager, though the conviction was unrelated to the drug’s price hike.
But, earlier this year, a judge sided with the Federal Trade Commission and seven U.S. states when Shkreli was ordered to return $64.6 million in excess profits he gained while he inflated the price of Daraprim.
He is also permanently prohibited from participating in the pharmaceutical industry “in any capacity,” PEOPLE previously reported.
source: people.com
