Source: Drew Angerer / Getty
Martin Shkreli, the so-called “Pharma Bro,” won’t be seeing freedom for quite some time but he’s still got his swindle powers on deck according to an explosive new report. A journalist who broke the news of Shkreli’s arrest ended up falling in love with him, left her husband, and says she’ll wait on him to go free despite the mess it’s made of her life.
ELLE exclusively spoke with Christie Smythe, a former journalist for Bloomberg, who covered white-collar crime cases while living in Brooklyn, N.Y. with her husband, who also worked in finance. Smythe broke the story of Shkreli’s arrest in 2015 which lead to a conviction of two counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiring to commit securities fraud.
Smythe continued to follow Shkreli’s story and keeping in close contact with him in hopes of an on-the-record interview about his various legal issues, and ended up befriending her subject when she worried he could possibly harm himself but not before writing an obituary in Shkreli’s honor if he did go forward with the deed.
In 2016 shortly after starting the Knight-Bagehot Journalism Fellowship at Columbia University, Shkreli was the subject of one of Smythe’s papers. After Smythe shared the work with Shkreli, he then suggested to her to write a biography on his life, something that one of Smythe’s professors tried to warn her away from. In short, Smythe got too close to the story to the point that when she was on temporary leave to work on the book, she was still visiting him in court and connecting with his growing circle of supporters, becoming part of that inner circle herself inadvertently.
Smythe eventually divorced her husband, quit her job at Bloomberg, and is still unusually protective of Shkreli, calling his trolling and other antics symptoms of his anxiety. Since ELLE’s profile of Smythe has gone wide, folks are still trying to understand how a rising journalist threw it all away on a man whose major claims to fame are buying a rare Wu-Tang Clam album and swindling investors out of money with a villainous sneer.
We’ve got those reactions below. Read ELLE’s entire piece here.
—
Photo: Getty
Pharma Dweeb Martin Shkreli Finessed Journalist Out Of Marriage & Career was originally published on hiphopwired.com
1.
2.
The best part about this whole #MartinShkreli story coming out is knowing that while all this shit was happening he was trying to slide into my dm’s because of a joke I made about #wutang pic.twitter.com/sjgRulJo7A
— Emmie B (@emmiebe18) December 21, 2020
3.
Imagine a reporter came to you, an editor, and said "I just need to declare something: I fell in love with a source,” then you said, okay, what’s the damage, and she said “it’s Martin Shkreli.” How many times would she have to say it before you stopped laughing and called HR?
— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) December 21, 2020
4.
Just re-upping this due to #MartinShkreli being in the news again: pic.twitter.com/exu6SMDpuY
— Elle Bee Are (@elle_bee_are) December 21, 2020
5.
Shkreli's post-prison options: "Running for office or starting a podcast." Find a bigger indictment of politicians than that#MartinShkreli #christiesmythe pic.twitter.com/mYJGRj11w8
— Oh FFS Now What? (@WendellComic) December 21, 2020
6.
martin shkreli trending does mean I get to talk about this again tho pic.twitter.com/i4OKACpVNc
— sexy train lenin stan (@drea_carmen) December 21, 2020
7.
If you choose this dress for a photo shoot, your judgement is already questionable. #MartinShkreli is always gonna be a bad choice for a relationship. pic.twitter.com/UOWbgrjPwr
— Politics and Health 😎👩🏼🏫👓🌊 (@lamarshall) December 21, 2020
8.
What an amazing quote about #MartinShkreli pic.twitter.com/WDlY6fgJNz
— 4_stars_out_of_50 (@4starsoutof501) December 21, 2020
9.
I’ve been saving this anecdote for a story, but screw it. Too good to squirrel away.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 21, 2020
Someone suggested Rays pitcher Tyler Glasnow try to get angry before starts. To do this, he would look at pictures of one person. He pulled out his phone and showed me.
It was Martin Shkreli. pic.twitter.com/TJHpgp1iTE
10.
When you see Cenk, #MartinShkreli, and #RachelDolezal all trending at the same time pic.twitter.com/wClqPhBrfk
— Trevor Knows History Will View Trump As A Loser (@ObamaClintonDem) December 21, 2020
11.
YIKES. 😬
— Juniper's Better Bitch Was With Hillary Clinton (@JunipersBird) December 21, 2020
This is really all you need to know about Christie Smythe's mental health. #MartinShkreli pic.twitter.com/5GQ6fws48A
12.
Imagine throwing away your career, ending your marriage, and ruining your credibility for the chance to procreate with...this. #MartinShkreli pic.twitter.com/0Ir4Sua9Mt
— Kelechi (@kahlaychee) December 21, 2020
13.
Now that #MartinShkreli is trending, I can reshare this #pharmabro pic.twitter.com/iyTFGfIiXm
— Tina Senecal (@TuppysMom) December 21, 2020
14.
Me. Back searching twitter for #Christiesmythe and #MartinShkreli stuff... pic.twitter.com/I5CYzJzcvK
— Veronica Walsh 😷🤚🏼🚰💧 (@VCurrentAffairs) December 21, 2020
15.
I don't care how bad your love life has been this year. If it doesn't approach getting ghosted by Martin Shkreli from prison after torching your career and marriage for him, you're doing just fine, Sweetie.
— Charlotte Clymer 🏳️🌈 (@cmclymer) December 21, 2020
