‘Pharma bro’ Martin Shkreli released from prison early to complete sentence in halfway house

Convicted executive had been due for release in September

‘Pharma bro’ Martin Shkreli has been released early from federal prison to complete the remainder of his sentence for securities fraud in a halfway house.

Shkreli was released from federal prison in Pennsylvania and into a Bureau of Prisons halfway house in New York on Wednesday to finish off the rest of his sentence.

The 39-year-old, who was convicted in 2017, had been due to be released from the Allenwood low-security federal correctional institution on 14 September.

He was sentenced to seven years in prison in March 2018 and has been released after four years after receiving credit for good behaviour. The former pharmaceutical executive also spent six months in prison before his sentencing.

A federal judge revoked his bail two months after his conviction when Shkreli offered his Facebook followers $5,000 for a sample of Hillary Clinton’s hair.

Shkreli received his ‘Pharma bro’ nickname while CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals when it raised the price of life-saving drug Daraprim from $13.50 to $750 per pill overnight in 2015.

The drug treats a rare parasitic disease that strikes pregnant women, cancer patients and Aids patients.

Shkreli’s lawyer Benjamin Brafman, confirmed his client’s release in a statement.

“I am pleased to report that Martin Shkreli has been released from Allenwood prison and transferred to a BOP halfway house after completing all programs that allowed his prison sentence to be shortened.”

And he added: “While in the halfway house I have encouraged Mr Shkreli to make no further statement, nor will he or I have any additional comments at this time.”

Shkreli’s conviction was unrelated to Daraprim. He was found guilty of defrauding investors at two hedge funds in order to finance his first drug company, Retrophin.

In January a federal judge ruled that Shkreli had to return $64.6m in profits that he and his former company made from the drug price increase, and also banned him from ever again working in the pharmaceutical industry.