Serving time in New Jersey after being sentenced to seven years in jail for securities fraud in 2017, disgraced pharmaceutical exec Martin Shkreli is still working for the drug company he helped found.
Using a contraband phone, Shkreli remains involved in the day-to-day operations of Phoenixus AG (formerly Turing Pharmaceuticals) and reportedly uses the device to read about developments in the pharmaceutical industry.
He also uses the phone to communicate with company employees and even went so far as to fire a former executive from the clink.
Though he’s banned from Twitter after harassing journalists, Shkreli is back on the platform using a new handle that doesn’t list his new name.
Illegal under prison rules, these actions could also lead to further legal consequences as “the Federal Bureau of Investigation has interviewed associates about his role there,” according to The Wall Street Journal.
The risk could be worth it for the 35-year-old because, if Phoenixus continues to grow under his stewardship, it could be worth $3.7 billion by the time he is set free in 2023.
“His plan involves acquiring more rare drugs in various stages of development and plowing money into an ambitious research-and-development agenda. Both are guided by his long days reading pharmaceutical research,” according to the WSJ. “He has, for now, abandoned the strategy that led to his explosion into the limelight in 2015 when Turing raised the cost of an HIV drug to $750 per pill from $13.50.”
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