Real-life villain Martin "Pharma-Bro" Shkreli has requested to be released from prison early so that he can help find a cure for coronavirus.
According to documents obtained by Bloomberg, Shkreli claims he "has been conducting significant research into developing molecules to inhibit the coronavirus," and furthermore seeks release due to his apparent susceptibility to the virus because of his allergies and asthma.
Shkreli is currently being held at Pennsylvania facility FCI Allenwood and wishes to be released for a three-month furlough to the confinement of his fiancée's apartment in New York City. From Manhattan, Shkreli requests "to serve the remainder of his prison sentence in home confinement with electronic monitoring and with permission to work on his research from home, or, with permission of probation, to report to a specific local workplace to perform research on a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) treatment," according to his lawyers' filing.
"Mr. Shkreli has spent countless hours while incarcerated researching disease treatments and possible cures for COVID-19," his lawyers wrote in the filing. "His current project has been well received. One company is prepared to begin working on clinical trials of Mr. Shkreli's work within weeks."
Currently, Shkreli is set to serve another 41 months in federal prison.
The 37-year-old first became widely known as a pharmaceutical villain for raising the cost of AIDS and cancer drug Daraprim from $13.50 a tablet to $750 a tablet overnight. From there, his purchase of Wu-Tang Clan's fabled Once Upon a Time in Shaolin and Lil Wayne's Tha Carter V brought him to new levels of notoriety.
Shkreli was sentenced to seven years in prison for defrauding investors in two hedge funds back in 2018.
According to documents obtained by Bloomberg, Shkreli claims he "has been conducting significant research into developing molecules to inhibit the coronavirus," and furthermore seeks release due to his apparent susceptibility to the virus because of his allergies and asthma.
Shkreli is currently being held at Pennsylvania facility FCI Allenwood and wishes to be released for a three-month furlough to the confinement of his fiancée's apartment in New York City. From Manhattan, Shkreli requests "to serve the remainder of his prison sentence in home confinement with electronic monitoring and with permission to work on his research from home, or, with permission of probation, to report to a specific local workplace to perform research on a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) treatment," according to his lawyers' filing.
"Mr. Shkreli has spent countless hours while incarcerated researching disease treatments and possible cures for COVID-19," his lawyers wrote in the filing. "His current project has been well received. One company is prepared to begin working on clinical trials of Mr. Shkreli's work within weeks."
Currently, Shkreli is set to serve another 41 months in federal prison.
The 37-year-old first became widely known as a pharmaceutical villain for raising the cost of AIDS and cancer drug Daraprim from $13.50 a tablet to $750 a tablet overnight. From there, his purchase of Wu-Tang Clan's fabled Once Upon a Time in Shaolin and Lil Wayne's Tha Carter V brought him to new levels of notoriety.
Shkreli was sentenced to seven years in prison for defrauding investors in two hedge funds back in 2018.
