Martin Shkreli: Sociopath or Scapegoat?

            The price gouging of Daraprim alone instantly made Martin Shkreli the “Most Hated Man in America.”  Doctors, patients, patients’ rights groups were outraged.  Politicians bashed Shkreli to promote their own sense of morality.  Citizens protested with signs displaying Shkreli’s visage that read, “The Face of Greed.” 

            People have called him a sociopath, scumbag, “garbage monster,” and the figure head standing for “everything wrong with capitalism.”  In addition to verbalized infamy, he has been targeted for death threats.

            Last December, his arrest was heralded as karma.  Karma was the top hashtag on Twitter that day.  Without the price hiking scandal, his arrest would have been a blurb.  Securities fraud doesn’t draw attention from the masses.  However, an evil CEO, who financially tortures AIDS patients and gets arrested by the FBI right before Christmas, gains the spotlight.

            Amid the choral echoes of society’s opinions, I also called Martin Shkreli’s arrest, karma.  Like everyone else, I was incensed when I first read the headline that a “CEO acquired the rights to the AIDS pill and raised the price from $13.50 to $750 per pill.”  The featured photo showed him lounging on a couch, wearing sunglasses and smiling as if relaxing after a victory.  My first inference was that he was a sociopath, hands down.

            Price gouging is not illegal, but when he was detained by the FBI for securities fraud, he had entered my territory of research – crime.  After researching him, I noticed my impressions changed somewhat.

            My First Impressions

1.      Sociopath

2.      Non-Machiavellian – He didn’t cover his tracks, and his crimes were easily detected.  Whenever he exacted revenge, he was not anonymous.  Niccolo Machiavelli would frown.

3.      Stupid

4.      Egotist

5.      Immature – Instead of handling his financial dispute with Tim Pierotti the legal way, he acted like a juvenile delinquent and harassed the family.

6.      Creep – When I saw an article about him chatting with a 17-year-old online, I stopped researching him until after his arrest.  I thought that was all I needed to know – a lowlife!

My Second impressions

1.      Increasingly intelligent

2.      Sociopath

3.      Outspoken

4.      More human

5.      Egotist

6.      Lazy

7.      Immature – I still think he handled the Pierotti situation like an at-risk teenager.  He also gets into online arguments for fun.

8.      Not a child predator – I read further about what happened online.

            This leads me to my enduring questions.  Is Martin Shkreli a real sociopath, a product of anti-social corporate culture, or just really immature?  Is he an unfairly villainized scapegoat, or is he a scapegoat yet still a sociopath?

Through my research, I drew inferences on the details surrounding Shkreli’s career, scandal, and the case.  Due to project length, I elaborate on these topics in the next blog article.  I prefer to skip right to the analysis.

Sociopathy Analysis

            Sociopaths lack a conscience and experience a limited range of emotions.  Based on what I’ve read and learned in class, they can feel anger, jealousy, fear, confusion – but they can not feel deeper feelings such as happiness, love, sadness, and of course, guilt.  They feel shallow spurts of joy; cheap thrills derived from their need for stimulation.  They are bored easily.  They lie often, and use deception for personal gain.  One trait I’ve found significant is that everything is a point system for them.  They get a positive payback from winning, and they will do anything to win or get what they want.  That relentlessness drives them to disregard people’s feelings and safety.  All of the traits of sociopathy can be found in the DSM-IV list of criteria for Anti-Social Personality Disorder.

            It’s easy to quickly conclude that Shkreli is a sociopath, since he’s an alleged white collar criminal who also profits from bankrupting AIDS patients.  Instead of simply accepting what the media or society says, I want to attempt to prove or disprove this statement by researching and making observations of my own.  I am not a psychologist, but if I go back to school, I would like to pursue a PhD in Criminal Psychology.  The purpose of this study is to provide a broader perspective for the public and for more qualified professionals to draw their own inferences.

            For the sake of objectivity, this analysis includes arguments for and against Martin Shkreli being a sociopath.  There are also toxic middle ground traits. 

Some points are debatable, hence the need to use symbols.  The visuals are intended to provide an organized and eye catching presentation.

Supporting Arguments for Sociopathy

1.      Reckless Greed: Charging $750/pill! - The parasite is holding the body hostage, and the patient has to pay a high ransom to continue living.  Once the patient runs out of money, the person is at the mercy of toxoplasmosis. 

a.  This is only what the media portrays.  About 60-68% of sales come from government programs.  Hospital in-patients do not have to pay $750/pill. 

b.  However, these patients may need to continue treatment for a few months after hospitalization.  Expensing government programs including Medicaid will affect taxpayers.  The high portion of those sales is partially because people can’t afford the medication.  The other reason is meeting legal requirements.

2.      Wishing for 100% at the list price - Even though Shkreli repetitively says that “more than half of the drug is being given away for $1,” at 21:05 in the interview with Josh Robbins, he revealed his greed.  “I wish 100% of our drug we got full price, but because laws and regulations suggest, we have to give 60% away for $1/bottle.”  Only the law is making him give away the drug for $1 per bottle.  Without the law, he would charge everyone the list price of $750/pill. 

3.      Only 2,000 People! – Shkreli said it in the interview with MedCity News (MCN, 4:19), and three times during the Robbins interview (21:41, 21:54, 34:48).  Only 2,000 people use Daraprim.  That may be a small number in the business world, but to a whole nation that cries if ten people die in a massacre, 2,000 is a lot!  How can anyone disregard human lives, especially in the thousands?

4.      Inappropriate Smiling - In various interviews, Mr. Shkreli smiled while answering questions about the abrupt 5,556% price gouge.  Even during his appearance with Congress, he was smirking.  Even if his actions were exaggerated by the media, he should have at least shown concern while clarifying his decisions.  He looked unsympathetic.

a.  My take on Shkreli’s appearance in congress was that self-incrimination was not his issue; he did not want to talk at all.  He was probably smiling because he was dealing with congress members who did not do their research.  If they had information disproving Shkreli’s statements from televised interviews, they should have presented them in detail.

5.      Criminal Diversity - This term describes someone who commits a range of different crimes.  It's a classic trait of sociopathy and psychopathy.  In years past, Shkreli had stalked a family, and now he is being charged with securities fraud.  One crime is blue collar in nature, and the latter is white collar crime.  If found guilty, this trait would definitely apply.
     

6.      Joking! – In January, Shkreli confessed that he was only joking around during his interviews and online behavior regarding the pricing scandal, thinking his insincerity wouldn’t be taken seriously.  Looking back at early December, his first statement in the Forbes interview was, “I probably would’ve raised the price higher.”  When asked why, he answered, “I think healthcare prices are inelastic, I could’ve raised it higher and made more profits for our shareholders, which is my primary duty.”  A scandal involving AIDS pills is not the time to be joking around!  He wasn’t taking the situation seriously, and he was not being empathetic to viewers who perceived the price gouging to be more severe.  Moreover, denying it all as joking could be damage control so he can start fresh and manipulate the crowd’s perception in his favor the next time. 

7.      Motive in lowering price – The media backlash pressured him to suggest lowering the price.  His company’s image and his own image were suffering.  Morality was not his motive for price reduction, but to protect his image.

8.      Playing Victim? - Regardless of his charges and his price hiking scandal, he has expressed that he feels persecuted.  He feels hated.  He doesn’t think his actions were wrong, and does not understand why the consequences came about.  He has said, “It’s easy to want to villainize people, and obviously we’re in an election cycle where this is a very tough topic for people and it’s very sensitive,” and “Politicians love to beat up on guys that are seen to be public enemies, if you will.  That’s a great way to get elected.”

a.  Isn’t there some truth in his statements?  Politicians are using him to elevate their platforms, giving the illusion that they have morals.  Politicians are stereotyped as sociopaths!

b.  Compared to the rest of the industry, Shkreli is just one price gouger.  He is being exaggerated.

9.      Charm - Despite his infamy, he has numerous supporters.  He is social, and telling by his retweets, he has convinced many people that he is a nice man.  Though, as Gavin DeBecker said in The Gift of Fear, “Niceness is a decision, a strategy of social interaction; it is not a character trait.” (p.58).  Martin is capable of being nice, but more willing to be spiteful, especially online. 

10.  Risk Taking – Risk taking is essential to working as a hedge fund manager on Wall Street, or in any business to some extent.  His pricing decision was a risk, and he didn’t see the scandal coming.  He didn’t expect to lose respect from people in the music industry where he aspired.  If he is guilty of securities fraud, then it would be consistent with risk taking, since he thought he could pay back investors and failed.  When he stalked the Pierotti family, he hardly expected a call from the police.  Sociopaths don’t take accountability for their actions, so oftentimes they don’t foresee consequences. 

11.  He likes attention. - “Look, attention is not something I’m desperate for or crave, but if it’s there, y’know, and I don’t have to work for it, and send one tweet out and it drives people crazy, y’know, why not?” (Lacy, 2:13)  Effortlessly getting attention is a cheap thrill.  Although trolls tend to have toxic personalities offline, Shkreli seems to do reverse-trolling.  He encourages his haters to attack him on Blab video chat.  Then he verbally abuses his invited trolls, and dismisses anyone he deems boring, stupid or too smart, or has bad audio connection.  He’s even rotten to friendly people, just because he thinks it’s funny – or he’s trying to provoke a fight.  When a woman asked what angered him the most, he retorted, “Your stank-ho-ass!” (1-23-16, 4:22:15).  The reason for this pugnacious behavior is revealed.  One gentleman in a car with a dashcam said, “You want everyone to challenge you, but then you’re condescending towards everybody.  What’s that all about?”  Shkreli answered, “That’s how the challenge works.  It’s like a fight almost.” (same date, 4:56:20)  He likes to defend himself from negative attention.  It’s stimulating for him.  He’s masochistic first and then sadistic.  A man spewed a stream of expletives, and Shkreli silently basked in the negativity. (4:31:33)  Whether online or offline, he seems to revel in his villainous reputation.  “If you want to villainize me, go right ahead.  This is fun.” (Lacy, 0:56)  He even sees attention stirring as artistic.  “To me, what I’m doing right now in the media, raising prices, all this shit, believe what you want, but it’s interesting.  It gets people talking.  At the end of the day, that’s what art is.” (Mole, 2015 Dec 16).

a.  He also promoted his company by drawing attention through the price gouging scandal.  He said at one point that, “Turing is an insignificant company.”

b.  In defending himself, he inadvertently drew attention to predatory pricing in the pharmaceutical industry as a whole.  Before Shkreli took the spotlight, how many people knew about the higher priced drugs and regular increases done by drug companies?  He said, “I’m glad people are having this conversation.”

c.  He’s two-faced!  He shows his “charming” side when it works in his favor, and online, he’s a heartless bully!

d.  Shkreli wanted more haters.  One friend, Corey, suggested that they incite their guests to be hateful.  Shkreli said, “We can’t go 3 on 1, because that’s just mean.” (4:24:18)

12.  He was a bully. - When talking online with students from his Alma Mater, he admitted he had been a bully at Hunter College High School.  Sociopaths need stimulation and get bored easily.  Bullying would satisfy that need in an anti-social way.  Every negative reaction serves as a positive payback, a win. 

a.  In a different article from the same newspaper, The New York Times, he was described as shy.  He played chess and guitar; read the stocks section of the newspaper, and sometimes wandered the halls alone.  What kind of a bully is shy?

13.  Using someone for personal gain – Bobby Schmurda, the rap star whose stage name is Ackquille Pollard, is currently in prison awaiting trial for manslaughter.  Shkreli wants to bail him out.  One reason is out of sympathy for Schmurda’s predicament, and that he reminds Shkreli of himself.  The other reason is to get a record deal in return, since Shkreli wants to create rap music.  In the HipHopDX interview, Shkreli said, “I’m a fan and I’m a business man.  I’m not going to do this for free.  …  I’m an opportunist.  …  Look, the guy’s going to have to record for me if he comes out.  I’ll just come out and say it.  If I’m gonna post his bail, pay for his trial, get him a ‘Not Guilty’ verdict … With the right lawyer, it’s just a matter of money.  I see opportunity.  The guy’s going to be more popular when he’s out…”  His generosity is a means to an end.

a.  In the same interview, he says, “If there was an artist that was great and needed cash, I would fund him and not ask for anything in return.  I would just throw the check down and say, ‘Go do your thing, don’t forget who I am.’  …..  All I want in return is a little recognition and just friendship.”  One moment, he asks for nothing in return, and then he does ask for something in return - recognition and friendship.  However, if someone gave that much help, it would be undeniably crass for the recipient to snub the benefactor or show no gratitude.  Though Shkreli just wants to get a record deal!  It’s hard to tell which side of the contradiction to believe.  This all leads to my next point.

14.  Lies and Contradictions – He says that “It’s not about greed,” but he wants 100% of the drug at $750/pill.  He complains of media persecution, but he likes his haters.  He claimed he worked all the time, but in his live stream he admitted to getting 10 hours of sleep (12-16-2015, 1:20:14).  Plus he live-streams for hours, which means he does not work all the time – even before his resignation from Turing.  After receiving negative attention, he claimed that he was joking and denied realizing that he was unknown to millions of people. 

a.  Maybe he really was joking, because his statement to raise the price even higher could feasibly be sarcasm.  At times, due to his dry tone, it’s hard to tell if he’s lying or just being sarcastic.

b.  However, he really did lie to the police when confronted about stalking the Pierotti family. 

c.  Though, honestly who would be dumb enough to say, “Uhh duhhh, Yes!  I was harassing them!”

15.  Powerball Ticket - Despite being a multimillionaire, he still bought a Powerball ticket, and told Twitter.  How does this relate to sociopathy?  It’s disregarding all the needy people who could use the money.  He said at one point that he has more money than he could ever need, but he will chance winning the lottery.  Like price gouging, buying a Powerball ticket is not illegal.  Both showed his greed.

a.  This is just his humor and attention getting behavior.

Middle Ground Traits – These personality traits are negative but do not necessarily make someone a sociopath.  They are prominent enough in Martin Shkreli’s character to be noted.

1.  Egotism – “I almost feel like I should be talking about something really important…(pause)…The miserable monotony of being ultra rich!” was what Shkreli said on his live stream (1:27:26) the night before he was arrested by the FBI.  Shkreli is an egotist and proud of it.  He hung up on an FBI agent in the same video at 1:22:10, hours before his arrest.  He calls these live streams his “reality show.”  In further swelling his ego, he won the latest Wu-Tang Clan album at auction for $2 million, and he used it as a coaster at some point.  When he bought it, he said, “The point is, I wanted to show respect for art.”  Though his other reason contradicts with, “There's [sic] a lot of things rich guys do to show off.  The press thing is a part of it, but it's also to show your friends, or your last company, like, ‘Hey, fuck you, look at me, I got this $2 million album.’  Guys do that all the time.”  That “last company” was Retrophin.  In addition to the Wu-Tang Clan CD, Shkreli has bought Tupac’s manuscripts, Kurt Cobain’s credit card, a Picasso painting, and a 1930s enigma machine once used to decode enemy messages in WWII.  He would show these trophies on Twitter and Facebook.  The Truman Show:  Shkreli spends hours live streaming with a cyber-audience.  So far from watching other people’s live streams, most people are active while live, meaning they vlog or entertain viewers in some way.  Shkreli will randomly play guitar, teach chemistry, and video chat, but there are lengthy stretches of Shkreli just vegetating in front of his computer and playing video games.  He even records himself sleeping.  It’s like the Truman Show, except voluntary.  Who could want this kind of attention?  It’s like a 10-hour selfie.  Plus he still manages to get an audience.  There’s no way anyone watches the entire length of the videos he uploads.  It’s like watching a hamster in a foreign country vegetate.  Though to psychoanalysts, it would be like giving a ball of yarn to a kitten.

a.  At one point he said he lived alone, so maybe he wanted cyber-company so he could have some interaction.  He likes company, not just attention.

2.      Grudge Filer, Vindictive – All but one of Shkreli’s grudges involved money.  If he feels he has been cheated financially or that his monetary affection has been spurned, he will counter-attack in cyberspace, the media, and even stalk and hack someone.  The secondary factor with incurring Shkreli’s wrath is speaking ill of him, but only if the bad mouthing comes from someone he values.

a.       Stalking the Pierotti Family – Martin Shkreli sued Timothy Pierotti, a former Retrophin manager, in the New York Supreme Court for buying 350,000 company shares for his own personal account and profiting $3 million.  Shkreli felt the money should have gone to Retrophin’s fund.  According to the New York Times, Shkreli terminated Pierotti, while a letter from Shkreli suggested Pierotti quit and ran off with the 400,000 shares, a conflicting number.  That January letter was only the beginning of a year of harassment.

•        January 2013 – Shkreli sent a scathing letter to Kristen Pierotti, describing her husband in detail starting with, “From Day 1, Tim was a terrible employee.”  This shows that Shkreli was jaded.  In cut-throat New York City, senior management can just terminate an undesirable employee ASAP.  At the end, he threatened to render the Pierotti family homeless.  The threat was somewhat credible, because Shkreli had frozen Pierotti’s brokerage account, and some of the money was paying Pierotti’s mortgage.  Shkreli wanted the bank to cancel that mortgage. 
•         March 27, 2013 – Shkreli sent Kristen a Facebook message, saying that he was filing suit against Tim, and that he would be “sending the summons and notice to everyone your husband and you know.”  He added that her contacts might be subpoenaed.  Shkreli also sent friend requests to Tim’s father and brother.  No one responded to Shkreli.
•          June 6, 2013 – Tim’s Facebook was hacked, his password was changed, and Retrophin’s legal complaint was posted on his Facebook wall.
•          October 25, 2013 – Shkreli messaged Kristen again on Facebook, saying, “How do you sleep at night?  Your husband stole millions from me.”
•         December 20, 2013 (relative date) – Shkreli sent a friend request to Pierotti’s 16-year-old son, and had this conversation.
• MS: “hey.  I’m a friend of your father.” 
  Son: “okay, so why did you friend me?” 
  
  MS: “im surprised you don’t know who I am.  I was your dad’s boss.”
  
  Son: “okay, so why did you friend me?”
  
  MS: “because I want you to know about your dad.  he betrayed me.  he stole $3 million from me.” 
  
  Son: “doubt it”
  
  MS:  “I sued him, ask him about it.  he took $3m that didn’t belong to him.”
  

•        Around Christmas Day – Shkreli sent a friend request to Pierotti’s 14-year-old son, who did not respond.
•          On Christmas Day – At 10:00am, Shkreli sent a LinkedIn message to Tim, saying, “Scumbag,” and under it was “-Martin Shkreli.”
•           December 27, 2013 - Around 7:45am, Kristen learned that Tim’s Gmail password had been changed; the account was hacked.  Tim added the Gmail hacking to the police report at 10:45am.  Also during the day, Tim’s manager at Tera Exchange received package with no return address, containing the complaint and a New York Post article that erroneously mentioned Tim partaking in an insider trading case.  Doesn’t Retrophin conduct pre-employment background checks?  If Tim’s character was questionable, why did they hire him in the first place? 
•       Same Date:  A Summit policewoman called Shkreli.  At first he denied ever knowing Tim.  After the officer informed him of the FB interaction, he said, “I haven’t talked with him in years, or at least a year.”  The officer informed him of the accusations and Shkreli stated, “I haven’t talked with him in over a year, so how can I be harassing him?”  He repeated those words after being told to listen and “not make denials based on word semantics.”  The officer told him not to contact the Pierotti family in any way.  Then Shkreli hung up.

•            December 28, 2013 – Shkreli called Tim, and left a voicemail, saying what Tim later wrote that Shkreli “regretted that I felt I had been harassed, and that he apologized if he had anything to do with that.”  Tim added this to the police report on Dec 31, 2013, since Shkreli was not supposed to contact him at all.

Fake apologies are another behavior of sociopaths.  In a later interview with HipHopDX, Shkreli remorselessly admitted to his stalking crimes with a tone of pride.  He said, “Did you see that thing where I threatened that dude and his fucking kids, right?  …  That was over $3 million, I want to say.  He had to call the police, that guy.  …  I threatened that fucking guy and his fucking kids because he fucking took $3 million from me and he ended up paying me back.  He called my bluff.  He said, ‘You’re not fucking going to go after me.’  [I said] ‘Yes I motherfucking will.’  I had two guys parked outside of his house for six months watching his every fucking move.” 

b.      Words against Bernie Sanders – Shortly after the price gouging scandal, Shkreli donated $2,700 (the maximum donation allowed) to Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign.  Sanders rejected his donation and gave it to the Whitman Walker AIDS Clinic in Washington DC.  Sanders spoke against Shkreli’s predatory pricing strategies.  Shkreli was angered by the rejected money and statements.  He said he was “angry enough to punch a wall.”  Then, on Twitter he posted an X-ray of a broken hand, except his actual hand was never fractured.  This was a Stock Image photo from the internet, and he wanted people thinking he really punched a wall.  His next Twitter image is of him playing a Fender Stratocaster, and his hand is healthy.  Another photo shows him with a black cast-covering on his forearm, but he probably bought it to prolong the ruse.  Shkreli continued to post negative tweets about Bernie.  The most notable was the husky-pup meme with Shkreli’s tweet, “If Bernie Sanders was a parasite, what would he be?  (space)  TOXOPLASMOSIS!”  In the interview with Josh Robbins, when prompted Shkreli was more specific about his resentment toward Sanders.  He said, “From where I come from, y’know, my mom always said if you’re going to say something bad about someone, ya gotta be prepared to say it to their face.  That doesn’t apply to Bernie,” (39:38), and “coward, that [Sanders] is the definition of a coward.” (40:13).

c.       Flare-up with RZA - Once the Daraprim scandal broke out, Collect Records cut off ties to their financial patron, Shkreli, who seems to care less.  Collect Records is an emo/punk record label, and Shkreli is aspiring into the rap industry.  Shkreli doesn’t care about derogatory comments made by Twitter users; they have no influence in his desired field.  Though, when someone attempts to smear his reputation in the rap/hip-hop world, it’s a threat to his dream.  There was tension between Shkreli and RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan, but it defused fairly quickly.  Shkreli had a more heated fight with Ghostface Killah, which will be saved for the end of this section.  RZA responded to the scandal with a need to defend Wu-Tang Clan’s image.  He explained that Shkreli bought the solitary album in May 2015, long before the Daraprim price gouging incident.  In the HipHopDX interview, Shkreli expressed feeling insulted and said, “If I hand you $2 million, fucking show me some respect.  At least have the decency to say nothing or ‘no comment.’”  Later he said, “I’ll fucking snap the CD on fucking TV and not even listen to it if that’s what he fucking wants.”  Shkreli chalks his temperament up to coming from Brooklyn and his Albanian heritage, which he mentions several times.  “There’s a big fucking check in RZA and Cilvaringz’s pocket now, but if they’re starting to turn up on me. (pause)  The Albanian community is a very weird community.  We’re some of the most tight-knit kind-of kill for each other, die for each other mortherfuckers there are.  People say it’s one of the craziest ethnicities there is in terms of their loyalty and bloodlines and shit like that.  This thing [Wu-Tang thing] is starting to get pretty tense.”  The kill for each other part is suggestively threatening, along with the idea of recruiting his ethnic community to avenge him.  

•         In my professional experiences with Albanian people, I have known them to be very extraverted, warm-hearted people, who don’t like gifts to be rejected.  They are eager to teach me Albanian, and I know a few words and phrases. 

Regardless of his temper’s origin, Shkreli seems to think that money buys respect.  Money is the most liquidable asset, yet still something physical to hold.  He’s trying to buy something intangible with something tangible.

3.      Immaturity – This is Shkreli’s innocent vice.  Can sociopaths be immature?  Yes.  However, not all immature people are sociopaths.  Shkreli has no filter in his humor or on Twitter.  He fights with public figures and high school students, with no sense of discrimination.  He also exacts revenge like a high school student. 

a.       Teen Talk - A 17-year-old girl from his Alma Mater contacted Shkreli on his live stream, and he acquiesced to conversing with her and eventually friending her in order to join a group chat.  The snap judgment would be that he’s a child predator, but he just wanted to offer his wisdom; nothing was sexual.  He rebuffed the real life friendship request, and blushingly turned down the girl’s prom proposal.  “My internet friends don’t think this is a good idea.”  Twice he shifted the source of rejection to other people; his internet friends and the media.  On the creepy side, he may have secretly wanted to accept, but felt societal pressure not to.  Or – He did not want to directly reject them, to be polite.  It could be cultural. 

In the conversation, he indirectly compared himself to Bill Gates.  “You’re too young, but he was a capitalist.  He was a monopolist.  He broke every rule.  He was the most ruthless businessman to ever exist.  That’s why he’s the richest man in the world now, but now he’s giving his money away, so it’s funny how quickly opinions can change.”  In the group chat, not everyone admired Shkreli.  One of the teens, Arty, provoked Shkreli enough that he countered with threats.  “I’m going to be at the courtyard tomorrow and I’m going to beat the [expletive] out of you, that’s basically what’s going to happen.  You can tell the principal, who, by the way, I have drinks with, so he’s not going to do [expletive].” (Workman & LaForge, 2015).  Even if Shkreli was joking, it is pretty low to threaten a minor.  Gratefully, he didn’t carry out the threat, or else I’d have more to write.  How many CEOs pick fights with high school students?  Honestly, can you imagine a full grown man in a suit wrangling with a kid at a high school?

b.      Illogic with Stalking - Did Shkreli really think that the Pierotti family would side with him?  Did he really think the children would believe their father stole millions, consciously and willingly?  Did Shkreli really think Kristen would swoon into his arms?  He seemed to have a little crush on her, telling from the text, “Hey sweetheart,” and his messages began with hoping she was well.  Only one message threatened to sue her and Tim, probably because the mortgage may be under both names.  Alternatively, hitting on Kristen could have been intended to offend Tim.  By hacking Tim’s accounts, Shkreli could have been more malicious.  He could have posted self-inflicting insults under Tim’s name, and messaged personal attacks to everyone Tim knew, but he didn’t.  The point of Shkreli’s harassment was to expose Tim.  He wanted everyone to be aware that Mr. Pierotti was being sued.  Shkreli assumed that anyone seeing the complaint would judge him as guilty.  Just seeing the legal document would cause the contacts to be subpoenaed?  The public is aware of Shkreli’s current court case.  Where is my subpoena?

4.      All three of the above:  Reaction to Ghostface Killah’s video:  Dennis Coles aka Ghostface Killah also had sympathy for the unhappy-go-unlucky toxoplasmosis patients, and publicly attacked Martin Shkreli’s physical appearance in a TMZ video.  Coles called Shkreli “Peewee Herman” and a “Michael Jackson-nosed kid.”  He first told his friends that “This is the man I want to be beefing, right,” which Shkreli took as a challenge and made a video in response.  Shkreli’s incensement was understandable considering he was being compared to two celebrities who were charged with sex crimes involving children.  Though, he could have handled it more maturely than producing the male version of Mean Girls.  In his TMZ video, Shkreli looks like a mafia boss who needs his shirt ironed.  Surrounding him are three men in gangsta Halloween costumes.  Shkreli addressed Coles as “Dennis,” called him an old man, and pointed out that his friend, Killah Priest, was arrested for cocaine possession.  Shkreli threatened to erase the music from the Once Upon a Time in Shaolin album if Coles badmouthed him ever again.  His demand for a page-length apology was an attempt at dominance, not caring if anything was heartfelt.  Shkreli told Coles to “stop pretending, stop acting, stop lying” and that his Halloween homies were tougher than his goons.  Although Shkreli has connections to the rap industry, he has not become a rapper yet.  This video was all pretend.  At the end, Shkreli made a veiled threat that, “And uh, don’t ever (bleep) mention my name again, or it’ll be, there’ll be more of a price to pay than just this video.”  A threat is a threat, and the possible damage is limited to Shkreli’s capabilities; hacking, harassment, or dispatching his Halloween homies.  If ISIL made videos like Shkreli did, the world would be a safer place.

Coles made a rebuttal video complete with graphics, more Peewee Herman attributions, Batman villain jokes, and his middle-aged woman goons.  Coles has made beefing videos in the past; one was directed at Action Bronson.  Apparently “beefing” in videos online may be a trend in the rap/hip-hop world, but it’s promoting cyberbullying.  Rappers shouldn’t set that example for their younger fans.

Also, video-beefing is not exclusive to the rap/hip-hop music culture.  I recall Sean Hannity with his conservative-equivalent goons fighting back and forth with Russell Brand a few years ago.

Arguments Against Sociopathy

1.      Robin Hood in Disguise? – The media misleads the public to thinking that anyone will be forced to pay $750/pill.  The copay is $10.  The highest would be $20, since Shkreli said, “No patient will pay more than 20 cents per pill (MCN, 3:04).  Through Medicaid and other federal and state government programs, at least 60% of Daraprim sells for $1/bottle.  Then patients who are uninsured and meet the financial need criteria get the drug for free.  So who actually pays $750/pill?  Three entities pay:  The government, insurance companies, and employers.  Corporations and the government can afford $750/pill.  Shkreli is taking from the rich, and giving the poor the lower prices.  There have been no cases of patients dying because they could not afford Daraprim.  Shkreli told Robbins that out of 2,000 people “0.1% will have a problem, two people.  I will make sure they don’t have a problem.” (22:00). 

a.  Since 60% of Daraprim is expensed through Medicaid and government programs, this will affect taxpayers.  Likewise, insurance companies will soon charge higher premiums to their customers.  Shkreli takes from the rich and gives to the poor, but then the rich just keeps taking from the poor.

b.  Daraprim is still on the low end of prices for orphan drugs.  Medicaid covers other pricey medicines like Myozyme ($100,000 - $300,000/year) and Soliris ($440,000-$500,000/year).  Furthermore, other drug companies like Pfizer, Gilead, and Valeant increase their prices without the media to extort remorse.  They go unnoticed.  If taxpayers suffer, it won’t be due to Daraprim, but because of media hype, Shkreli will get blamed.  The same goes for insurance companies. 

2.      Questionable Greed – With a 5,556% price increase, people assumed that Shkreli would pocket all the profits.  However, Shkreli had no salary.  While he can live off his millions, how do Turing’s employees pay their rent?  I’m assuming that the employees make money off the company stock.  Where do the profits go?  The profits go to Turing’s research and development department.  This isn’t just for Daraprim sales.  Shkreli said that it’s despicable for a pharmaceutical company not to put their money into R&D.  (Lacy, 1:36).  Turing aspires to create new drugs, and they have 13 products in development. 

a.  Daraprim’s cost of labor is $1 per pill, and the price increase is to account for the $55 million to acquire Daraprim.  Patients shouldn’t have to pay for the capital cost!  They shouldn’t have to pay for the new pill either!

b.  Individual patients aren’t the ones paying.  The government and corporations are paying the high price to accommodate the capital cost and improved Daraprim.

The media paints Shkreli as being insensitive to AIDS patients, but Turing has HIV positive employees, and they were among the staff who discouraged Shkreli from stepping down as CEO after the price change.

3.      Truly cares about his patients - When Shkreli said “two people,” he wasn’t jesting.  He reached out to two patients who couldn’t afford Daraprim and gave it to them for free.  He told Robbins, “I’m not offering a premium price without premium service.” (23:55).  A doctor had called Turing, saying that a patient, Ryan, needed help (7:12).  Ryan was impoverished and his emergency room visit alone was $500.  Shkreli insured Ryan would get Daraprim for free.  The second patient was an illegal immigrant in Massachusetts (22:20).  It took three days, and Shkreli called the hospital to insure the patient received free Daraprim.  Shkreli could empathize with this particular patient because Shkreli’s own parents were immigrants.  Real sociopaths have no empathy. 

Besides toxoplasmosis, Shkreli has benefited other patients.  A family in North Dakota had three children suffering from a neurodegenerative disease.  The pill that Shkreli created saved all three kids.  The family has sent their thanks to him.  (MCN, 15:55).

4.      His Long Term Goals - In addition to the aforementioned pill, Shkreli ultimately wants to create 10 to 20 drugs during his lifetime (Robbins, 51:00).  His aspirations date back to his youth.  His childhood dream was to cure HIV (42:15).  When Shkreli was growing up, he felt sorry for a relative who was resistant to anti-depressants.  This inspired him to pursue a career in the pharmaceutical industry.  Last year, he founded a family run charity that focuses on HIV and other ailments.  Although he has admitted to being a capitalist, he says he doesn’t want to be remembered as a capitalist (51:35).  He said, “I don’t view my job as a mission to make money.  I view it as a goal to satisfy my curiosity.” (54:20).

a.  He has also said, “I think my curiosity probably outweighs my benevolence.” (52:12)

b.  He said, “At the end of the day, there is nothing more interesting than a gene that nobody knows anything about or a protein that nobody knows what it does.” (52:23).  Cracking the code and curing illnesses fulfills his curiosity.  The maladies that interest him include Canavan disease and Lafora disease (Robbins, 51:10).

c.  He could be lying.  He wants you to think he’s a “good guy.”  This benevolent façade is a means for damage control in wake of his scandal.  He could be lying about wanting to make 20 pills, or cure HIV.  It’s lip service.

d.  His childhood dream can not be proven or disproven.  People have childhood dreams that don’t work out.  Only time will tell if he meant to help people.

5.      Where’s the penthouse? - Shkreli has a debatable net worth between $45-100 million.  For someone of Shkreli’s affluence, his apartment looks humble from his webcam.  As seen in the Vice interview, his place is not cheap, but it is not a penthouse either.  Someone without a conscience would impulsively spend the millions on an opulent lifestyle.  Where’s his mansion?  Where’s his private jet, yacht, or football field-sized swimming pool?  Where is his Ferrari collection?

a.  Not all sociopaths want the same things.  He chooses to spend extravagant amounts on smaller material possessions, some of which belonged to celebrities.  He likes to show off, and the attention is a win for him.

b.  Normal people don’t all want the same things.  It’s his money, and he can buy what he wants.  Plus he gave $10 million to charities (MCN, 18:30).

6.      Lack of Charm, Lack of Glib – In the Forbes interview, Shkreli nervously rocked his neck while sitting.  Smiling at the wrong times does not get people to like you.  He claimed he did not know that millions of people were unaware of him.  If that was a lie, then he seemed to think he was believable.  His trollish behavior online is not charming.  Sociopaths use charm to get what they want, and they are glib in doing so.  Shkreli also frequently contradicts himself, but doesn’t seem aware of it.

a.  He does use charm to get what he wants, but in trolling or reverse-trolling, he wants negative reactions, in which he drops the charming act.

b.  When confronted, he admits he’s contradicting himself.  He just doesn’t care if he’s contradicting himself. (1-23-16, 4:56:35)

7.      Too Complacent with Boredom - Despite “the miserable monotony of being ultra rich,” Shkreli continues to confine himself in his office room for prolonged periods.  His only stimulation is the internet and cyber-interaction.  Sociopaths crave stimulation, and boredom is torture.  Shkreli shifts positions in his swivel chair and frequently props his forearm atop his head.  He’s bored, but it’s not unbearable for him.  A real sociopath would run out, buy a kitty, and torture it, but that’s more of the dysfunctional kind.  A functional sociopath living in NYC would go out more.  There are plenty of stimuli outside his apartment.  Without a conscience, a sociopath does what he/she wants, whether good or bad – just self-serving. 

a.  Maybe his cyber-interaction gives him enough stimulation, and bashing haters is a cheap thrill.

b.  If it were enough stimulation, then he wouldn’t be bored at all.

8.      Gift of $1 million to Hunter College High School – In March 2015, Shkreli gave $1 million to his high school.  This was the same school that asked him to leave before senior year.  It is uncertain why, but one possible reason was that he wasn’t attending class.  For someone who holds grudges, his donation was pretty forgiving.  Shkreli even said the gift was for “encouraging me to think creatively and challenge conventional wisdom,” and he intended the money for “including funding new technology and teaching resources for the school’s science and guidance programs.”  It was the most money ever donated to a public school in New York City. 

9.      Corporate Benevolence – “Sometimes the reason why companies increase prices is because they’re dedicated to keep producing them.” – Martin Shkreli (MCN, 21:40).  His first example was schistosomiasis, a rare parasitic disease affecting 240 million people.  There used to be seven drugs for schistosomiasis.  Now there is only one drug available, because the other six weren’t profitable enough to keep producing.  He said Daraprim was also in danger of being discontinued for the same reason (22:02).  Moreover, a benznidizole based drug that treats Chagas was going to be discontinued, and while working at KaloBios, he was in the process of acquiring the drug.  KaloBios was on the verge of bankruptcy.  In buying the majority of shares and becoming their CEO, Shkreli was attempting to save the company.  Since his arrest, he was terminated from KaloBios, which then filed for bankruptcy right before New Year’s Eve.  Chagas mainly affects people living in Latin America.  If Shkreli succeeded in acquiring the drug’s rights, he was going to raise the price, as usual, but whether or not the drug remained available could ultimately affect thousands of incoming immigrants to the United States.

10.  His Insincerity – Since Shkreli was following industry norms, he didn’t perceive any serious problem, especially when individual patients wouldn’t be paying.  Given that Shkreli was being insincere in his media appearances, then he was not showing his true self.  Was it a false impression that he was a smiling sociopath?  Smiling seems to be a coping mechanism for him, since he was facing nationwide condemnation and tremendous pressure to make a price change against his judgment.  Then in congress, he was being lectured by politicians who did not do nearly as much research as me, hence the defensive smiling.  Regarding Shkreli’s overall behavior in the media:  At worst, he was being immature.  At best, his immaturity was a coping mechanism.

11.  Media Bias – Do you notice there are more negative arguments than positive ones?  I don’t have enough information to fairly argue against Shkreli being a sociopath, because the media disseminates mostly vilifying information.  He said in the MedCity News interview that, “The news didn’t want to air a lot of what I had to say” (MCN, 4:40).  The media depicted Shkreli as a villain, robbing every single underprivileged AIDS patient.  It’s the employers, insurance companies, and the government being charged, so they retaliate through the media.  Drawing mass hatred is easy because people are uninformed.  The average person in America does not know the average price per pill for orphan drugs, so $750 looks extravagant.  Raising prices after acquiring drugs is an industry norm, and only one CEO is being condemned.  In terms of inciting anger, “This CEO is robbing poor people,” is more effective than “This small pharma CEO is charging more to corporations and the government.”

Final Inferences

            Although I can not professionally diagnose Martin Shkreli of Anti-Social Personality Disorder, I am unofficially leaning toward No.  The purpose of this study is to give insight on his behavior.  He may not be a real sociopath but may have a different condition.

Shkreli’s cognitive abilities are advanced.  He was accepted into a special school for the intellectually gifted.  He skipped grades, and he went to college early.  He succeeded in Wall Street while most people his age were struggling to find employment during the Bush administration.  Emotionally, he seems to have developed slower.  He was shy as a kid and as an adult he reacts like a teenager when angry.  He blasts people on Twitter, and his drama with the Pierotti family belongs in a Lindsey Lohan movie.  His video to Ghostface could be a deleted scene.  His extreme intellectual ability coupled with his immaturity in emotional development makes him a likely candidate for Asperger’s syndrome or some form of Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD).  Having ASD does not rule out having a personality disorder, however.  Another possibility is Oppositional Defiant Disorder, since his symptoms include a bad temper, problems with authority figures, unstable career, likes to annoy people, and displays vengeance at least twice in a six month period.  This disorder is usually in combination with ADD.  

            These are only suggestions, not formal diagnoses.  This analysis only serves to open people’s blinders rather than jump to conclusions about someone being a sociopath.

©2016 Caroline Friehs

Originally posted:  March 12, 2016
Last updated upon blog renovation completion.

Photo Credit

Header Photo:  Originally by Paul Taggart/Bloomberg

 Edited by Caroline Friehs

Icons by Caroline Friehs

  

References 

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