There are sociopaths, and then there's Martin Shkreli, who seems to delight in being the worst human on the planet. Shkreli made his name as the "Pharma Bro" who was sentenced to seven years for securities fraud (he was released early) after he cornered the market on an antiparasite medication, and hiked its price 5,000%. For good measure, he persuaded the journalist covering his trial to leave her husband for him, and then casually dumped her. Now, Shkreli is back in the news for an audacious crypto hustle that seeks to trade on the Trump family name.
The scheme revolves around a memecoin called DJT (the former president's initials) that launched a few months ago, and recently went on a tear amid rumors it had the backing of the Trump clan. Industry veterans were skeptical, but the unfounded rumors got traction in light of Trump's newfound embrace of crypto as well as the current craze for memecoins. By Tuesday, things had gotten to the point where research firm Arkham offered a $150,000 bounty to anyone who could prove the identity of DJT's creator.
The mystery didn't last long. Only hours after the bounty went up, noted crypto sleuth ZachXBT claimed the prize by proving that Shkreli had created the token as part of an alleged pump-and-dump scheme. ZachXBT also claims that another key participant in the scheme, Cameron Roxburgh, boasted repeatedly in a Telegram group chat that he was a classmate of Barron Trump, the former president's 18-year-old son. (There is evidence Roxburgh and Trump did go to school together).
Shortly after his cover was blown, Shkreli joined a live chat on X in order to claim that he was behind the DJT token, but that the token would soon receive an endorsement from Barron or another Trump-world figure. To one's surprise, there has been no such endorsement. The upshot is that Shkreli's latest get-rich-quick hustle has unraveled, and the one-time Pharma Bro is in deep trouble.
Former President Donald Trump, who is hyper-conscious of his brand and famously vindictive, is likely to declare Shkreli an enemy if he gets wind of the scheme. Meanwhile, regulators are no doubt reading about the antics surrounding DJT too, and will not be shy in looking for a way to lock up the Pharma Bro all over again. As for what it means for crypto, we can expect the regulatory heat to be turned up on memecoins—and for Shkreli to become yet another archvillain the industry can claim as its own.
Jeff John Roberts
jeff.roberts@fortune.com
@jeffjohnroberts
