'Picked up this guy hitchhiking': Martin Shkreli appears to be free in new twitter post

While hitchhiking in itself is rarely illegal, it's always best to err on the side of caution when picking up those hitching a ride. You could end up sharing your car with a friendly traveller, a murder suspect – or, in one man's case, "Pharma Bro" Martin Shkreli.

In a viral tweet that has racked up hundreds of responses, Twitter user Edmond Sullivan penned: "Picked up this guy hitchhiking. Say's he's famous." Edmond accompanied the humorous tweet with a photo of himself and someone who appears to be an ecstatic-looking Shkreli.

Shkreli was famously serving a seven-year sentence for a securities fraud conviction and has since been banned for life from the pharmaceutical industry, according to a federal judge’s order.

America's "most hated man" was ordered to return $64.6m (£47m) after he profited off hiking up the cost of life-saving HIV medication by over 4,000 per cent, taking Daraprim from $17.50 (£14) to $750 (£603) per pill.

Shkreli's Vyera Pharmaceuticals – previously known as Turing Pharmaceuticals – earlier agreed to pay $40m.

Back in January, Manhattan Federal Court Judge Denise Cote said that Shkreli “was the mastermind of [the company’s] illegal conduct and the person principally responsible for it throughout the years.”

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New York Attorney General Letitia James, one of the officials who brought the suit, celebrated the decision.

She said Shkreli and his partner had illegally raised the "price of a life-saving drug as Americans' lives hung in the balance".

"But Americans can rest easy because Martin Shkreli is a Pharma Bro no more."

While he may be banished from the industry and Twitter, it appears as though his jail time is over.

Sceptical users flocked to the post to quiz whether the post was a "deep troll."

Edmond simply responded, "it's not", along with a second photo of the pair with Edmond sporting a "Free Shkreli" T-shirt.

"Hopefully, Elon lets him back [on Twitter], one user said, while another humoured: "How the hell did he get out looking better?"

A third tweeted: "This is one heckuva way to announce someone is out of prison…"

Shkreli had an expected release date of September 2022 after a federal judge rejected his second request to be let out of prison early.

Indy100 has reached out to the Department of Justice for DOJ for comment.

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