A woman claiming to be Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli’s ex-girlfriend alleges that during Facebook conversations that took place a few years after they broke up, Martin Shkreli offered her money in exchange for sex.
The woman, who calls herself “Katie,” contacted Business Insider on Tuesday about the conversations and posted screenshots of the conversations on her blog (Warning: NSFW) the next morning.
The woman claims that during her Freshman year of college, she dated Martin Shkreli, calling him an “unrepentant capitalist, quoter of Eminem lyrics, [and] embodiment of d****ebaggery.” The woman alleges the relationship took place while Martin Shkreli worked as a junior analyst at Cramer Berkowitz. However, the relationship did not end well, and Shkreli and Katie split.
“[It] soon became obvious that Martin was a pathological liar, would pretend to cheat on me and brag about it to raise his value in my eyes, so I’d always feel like I was hanging on by a thread, could be replaced, would vie for his approval and forgiveness. Except it backfired, made me think he was pathetic, not desirable.”
According to Dead State , in 2004, Martin Shkreli began contacting her. Katie alleges that at first the messages were friendly, but then they became increasingly more and more inappropriate. In April 2008, she alleges that Martin Shkreli sent her a Facebook message saying, “95% of the time i get off i’m thinking about you.”
Then, in February 2009, Shkreli sent her obscene messages, one of which included a brag saying he would pay her $10,000 to perform a sexual act with her. She alleges that she removed her last name from the screenshots but that otherwise the conversations between her and Martin Shkreli are undoctored.
According to Business Insider , Martin Shkreli denies the exchange took place between him and Katie, saying the conversation was taken out of context. Shkreli also says the screenshots were possibly “fabricated.”
“You can see it, but perhaps there’s some, you know, back and forth that you don’t have on an email address or something. Maybe I’m referring to something else. You know, it’s possible that it’s not what you think. It’s also possible it’s fabricated. I don’t know. I don’t have them. It’s from 2009. It’s a jilted lover or vice versa. It just doesn’t seem that meaningful.”
Katie alleges she unfriended Martin Shkreli after he solicited her for prostitution and wouldn’t stop bothering her. She claims Shkreli’s latest attempt to contact her came around the same time that he became CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, and that a friend of hers who works in finance speculated that Martin Shkreli’s sudden interest in making more money could be because he is interested in spending it on women.
Martin Shkreli first made headlines on Sunday when The New York Times reported that his company, Turing Pharmaceuticals, had increased the price of the life-saving AIDS drug, Daraprim, from $13.50 per pill to $750 per pill. Daraprim is used to treat toxoplasmosis, a disease caused by a common parasite that can be deadly for AIDS and cancer patients due to their immune systems being suppressed.
Martin Shkreli soon became the poster boy for drug-price gouging. Shkreli even defended the drug increase on his now private Twitter account, quoting lyrics from an Enimem song in one tweet.”And it seems like the media immediately / points a finger at me / So I point one back at em, but not the index or pinkie.”
As previously reported by the Inquisitr , on Tuesday, Martin Shkreli announced Turing Pharmaceuticals would lower the price of Daraprim. Martin Shkreli confirmed that the decision was a direct result of the public outcry over the price increase. However, many are still calling Martin Shkreli, “the most hated man in America.”
[Images via In Defense Of Getting Off and Facebook ]