Scammed: Martin Shkreli Conned out of $15M in Bitcoin?

2016. Feb. 15. 14:00

The notorious Martin Shkreli made a few tweets saying he was supposedly scammed out of $15 million USD in Bitcoin for an exclusive copy of the new Kanye West album. After broadcasting he was going to purchase the record over his Twitter feed, he gave a shout out to Spotify, iTunes, and Pandora Radio to bid for the album at $25 million dollars. Bitcoin community members are skeptical, and Shkreli has yet to prove the “Pablo” deal with a blockchain TXID as people have called the announcement a bluff.

Also read: Your IoT Fridge Will Spy on you, Says US Intelligence Chief

Was Shkreli Scammed or Was He Trolling?

Shkreli has been making headlines for the past few months concerning his work at Turing Pharmaceuticals as the CEO, who raised the price of an AIDs drug. Back in September Shkreli made the prescription drug unaffordable to patients by increasing the cost upwards of 5,556%. This had caused outrage from the general public, and many people were disgusted by the business move. Shkreli is not the CEO of the company anymore and has recently faced criticism from Washington DC concerning the increased price change.

The hearing officials went over the price increase, but the subpoena was directed at charges of a securities fraud. Shkreli has also been known for being a private investor in the hip-hop world and had purchased the latest Wu-Tang album for the sum of $2 USD million. Supposedly the rap group wasn’t aware that it was Shkreli who purchased the record and denounced him after finding out. On February 13th, Shkreli told people over Twitter that he was going to purchase Kanye West’s album The Life of Pablo for $15 USD million and use bitcoin to buy the product.

@Fake_Buffett coming soon. paid in bitcoin.

— Martin Shkreli (@MartinShkreli) February 14, 2016

However, after this announcement Shkreli said he had made a deal with someone who wasn’t really an associate of Kanye’s entourage. The former Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO said a person named Daquan had scammed him out of the $15 million USD and produced no album. “Someone named Daquan said he was Kanye’s boy and I signed the deal to buy Pablo and sent the Bitcoin,” he tweeted. “Call the police this is bullshit.” This continued with Shkreli complaining to Twitter that his posting of direct messages was not working properly.

Many Bitcoin community members felt that Shkreli was lying and fabricating the story to get publicity. No one, not even Shkreli has been able to produce a verified block associated with a transaction of that magnitude. Lots of people went through the largest transactions saved within recorded block explorers and found nothing. Others on Twitter called Shkreli out for not producing solid evidence, but he explained that it would soon be revealed. Most forum posts had shown the community widely agreed Shkreli was most likely trolling and his claims were nonsensical.

The album never made it into the hands of the former pharmaceutical CEO and was released to the public. It seems Shkreli was most likely playing a prank of some sort for a publicity stunt. “Also, idiots, I’ve gotten in touch with Sitoshi (Bitcoin’s creator) and he’s agreed to help me get my money back,” he wrote on Twitter the next day. “I always win.”

The story is another interesting event in the world of Shkreli, and most likely there will be more absurd fairytales. The question is will it involve thousands of Bitcoin again?

Also, idiots, I've gotten in touch with Sitoshi (Bitcoin's creator) and he's agreed to help me get my money back. I always win.

— Martin Shkreli (@MartinShkreli) February 14, 2016