Pharma Bro

And How You Can Get Anything You Want In Prison

This Hulu-released film is part of a very modern trend – the documentary where the subject matter has already done most of the work. The subject matter is a poster child of charmless internet trolls, Martin Shkreli. The one-time, and maybe future, businessman did a spell in federal prison on charges related to securities fraud and conspiracy. And while this documentary depicts the period beforehand (he served from 2017 to 2022), much of the insight into that period is provided by his own footage, as he was an enthusiastic and active internet personality – fitting for a man who looks like one of those black and white cartoon memes.

In the way that Al Capone was prosecuted for tax fraud, Shkreli’s crimes were not necessarily the main source of his notoriety. He grabbed headlines in 2015 for exorbitantly jacking up the price of a drug used to treat AIDS from $13.50 to $750 for a single pill. And while other executives who would do such a thing would later hide their face, Shkreli was active and chatty on social media, gloating about this transparent price gouge, embracing the role of villain he would be seen as. Later, as if he hadn’t seized enough attention from tabloid rubberneckers, Shkreli also purchased the single copy of “Once Upon A Time In Shaolin”, the last Wu-Tang Clan album. It is not a surprise that in the documentary, Ghostface Killah has some thoughts on this. Several thoughts, in fact.

There are interviews in the movie with people who knew Shkreli, a surprising level of access that includes friends, allies and even part-time lovers. But a lot of what takes up the attention is from Shkreli’s own livestream sessions, where he’d entertain fans with low-energy japes and gags and games. Presumably, given the relationship many people have to the wealthy, the turn-on was the level of contempt shown by one man towards his own audience. That being said, I do not understand a whole lot of livestreamers. This is something that exploded when I was gone, and I can’t figure out how a grown man can, say, watch someone else play a videogame for hours.

“Pharma Bro” is light on artistry, as this is a cut-and-dried document as to what makes this man a self-chosen antagonist. We know we live in a world where the perceived safety (and occasionally anonymity) of the internet allows people to project themselves as contrarian glitches in the matrix, edgelords who skate against the accepted narrative in order to subvert a natural order. What “Pharma Bro” shows is just how easier it is to self-mythologize when you have considerable riches at your disposal. We laugh at celebrities occasionally being petty on Instagram, but Martin Shkreli may be the most famous man to fully dedicate himself to online trolling as a side-gig. Even when he is on trial, he has no qualms about petty discourse presented by him to faceless masses over a grainy laptop video.

What does interest me is that, at some point, I apparently did time with Mr. Shkreli. I did not meet him, we did not cross paths. I didn’t at all know he was relatively close by for a few months. I had to leave that institution after an altercation, but at the time, I had no idea Shkreli walked among us. Though I found out in a fairly amusing way – through the Wall Street Journal.

It was a Friday morning in my new institution when I found a front page story about my previous carceral domicile, and its celebrity inhabitant Shkreli (If you have a subscription, the article can be found here). The core of the story was that Shkreli, who theoretically had been removed from positions of leadership at his companies, had continued to illicitly carry out business from a cell phone he had been using from his top bunk. This did not surprise me. In that institution, most rooms accommodate six bunks and twelve men, and out of those twelve, about eight had easy access to a cell phone at any point of the week. Phones were prohibited, and frequently officers warned about drones flying over the institution in unregulated airspace, dropping contraband to the inmates. But it was clear how many officers had close relationships to the men inside, and how easy it was for them to smuggle material in.

What was interesting about the article was how detailed it really was. It detailed various instances where Shkreli was apparently firing people loudly from his phone, which I buy. In those dorms, officers would walk through the halls every hour, passing by lookouts who knew when to warn people to hide their phones or return them to their owner (who would often be renting the phones out for a few dollars an hour).

The article went on. There were details about Shkreli’s wardrobe, even his exercise routine (which, described in print, represented a remarkably catty gesture). The article identified, by name (prison name, but still) the two individuals identified as protecting Shkreli from those who would violently extort someone with money. It seemed dedicated to describing Shkreli’s schedule and hobbies. Of course, who could have given the press this information? Maybe it was a fellow inmate looking for revenge. But it’s entirely unlikely that a newspaper would print the rumor-mongering of some random inmate simply looking to get rid of Shkreli. Which was the end result – hours after the paper printed the story, Shkreli and his protectors were in the SHU, Shkreli eventually ticketed for low-security FCI Allenwood.

Naturally, the only other source would have to be an officer. Specifically, what kind of officer? The accounts suggest, to me, that Shkreli was bribing officials to look away (which likely means he was paying officers for other perks, a possibility I’d guarantee). It’s likely he was paying multiple officers, not only to get him what he needed but to play dumb when circumstances required it. The only way these details were leaked would be if one of these officers weren’t seeing their palm greased entirely enough. Maybe he demanded entirely too much. Maybe Shkreli, as he was wont to do, got reckless with his mouth. But there was no doubt that article about Shkreli was most certainly an article about dirty guards, and how they could make prison comfortable for someone with considerable means.

Next week, we’re exploring films from megastars! Familiar faces in places you’d NEVER expect!