Chapter 2, Part 1: The "most hated" man in America (text only)

This is Chapter 2, Part 1 of my serialized memoir, SMIRK, about my relationship with Martin Shkreli.

Martin Shkreli on the morning of his arrest in December 2015, being led by federal agents.

Just before dawn on Dec. 17, 2015, I broke the story of Martin Shkreli’s arrest. The criminal fraud case against him had been building for the past year. Prosecutors were ready for an indictment to be unsealed. FBI agents were outside of his apartment building in the Murray Hill section of Manhattan. And I was at my desk, at Bloomberg’s headquarters, waiting for confirmation from sources that he was in handcuffs. 

Once I got word, and told an editor to hit the “publish” button, the story swiftly went viral. It spread like a brushfire on Twitter, with its footprint only growing as competitors rushed to match our work and publish their own accounts. Photos were taken of Martin Shkreli being led around by federal agents, and glowering under the hood of a gray sweatshirt.

“Iconic,” one of the Bloomberg editors remarked.