What would it take for you to sue a person you once considered a friend? Having watched the slow emotional torture of court battles, it would take a lot for me – more than just being owed money. I’d need to feel a deep moral wrong was committed. I’d need to feel as though I’d been deliberately duped, misled, harmed or betrayed. And I’d need to feel that betrayal or harm was utterly unforgivable.
As Martin Shkreli’s world descended into chaos, so many of his former friends and associates ended up suing him that I struggled to make sense of their reasons. Were they as severely and intentionally wounded by him as I would have to be in order to make the same decision? Or were his relationships with these “friends” so transactional that they could cynically make public allegations against him (whether true or embellished) solely in pursuit of a payday? It was difficult to tell.
Between 2015 and 2021, at least 14 lawsuits (not including the ones by government agencies) were filed against Martin over claims of fraud, unpaid bills and other issues related to his business activities. The roster of litigants included an investor in one of his early hedge funds, a doctor who had invested in Retrophin, former colleagues who had helped him acquire small biotech KaloBios (which he led for roughly a month before his arrest), a former general counsel for Turing/Vyera, and even one of his former brokers and close friends, Ed Painter.
