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“Pharma Bro” Behind DJT Crypto Token, No Proof of Barron Trump Involvement
There are sociopaths and then there is Martin Shkreli, who seems to enjoy being the worst human being on the planet. Shkreli made a name for himself as the “Pharma Bro” who was sentenced to seven years for securities fraud (he was released early) after conquering the market for an antiparasitic drug and increasing its price by 5,000%. For good measure, he persuaded the journalist covering her trial for leaving her husband for him, and then he casually dumped her. Now, Shkreli is back in the news for a bold one the cryptocurrency hustle trying to trade on the Trump family name.
The scheme revolves around a memecoin called DJT (the former president’s initials) launched a few months ago, and recently gone on the rocks amid rumors that it had the backing of the Trump clan. Industry veterans were skeptical, but the unfounded rumors gained traction Trump’s new embrace of cryptocurrencies as well as the current memecoin craze. By Tuesday it had gotten to the point where research firm Arkham was offering a $150,000 reward to anyone who could prove the identity of DJT’s creator.
The mystery didn’t last long. Just hours after the bounty increased, cryptocurrency detective ZachXBT noted claimed the prize proving that Shkreli had created the token as part of an alleged pump-and-dump scheme. ZachXBT also claims that another key participant in the program, Cameron Roxburgh, repeatedly boasted in a Telegram group chat that he was a classmate of Barron Trump, the former president’s 18-year-old son. (There is trial Roxburgh and Trump went to school together.)
Shortly after his cover was blown, Shkreli joined a live chat on X to claim that he was behind the DJT token, but that the token would soon receive approval from Barron or another world figure Trump. Surprisingly, there was no such approval. The result is that Shkreli’s latest get-rich-quick attempt has been exposed and the former Pharma Bro is in big trouble.
Former President Donald Trump, hyper-aware of his brand and famously vindictive, will likely declare Shkreli an enemy if he learns of the plan. Meanwhile, regulators are also no doubt reading about the antics surrounding DJT, and they won’t be shy about looking for a way to lock up Pharma Bro again. As for what this means for cryptocurrencies, we can expect the regulatory heat to intensify on memecoins and for Shkreli to become yet another arch-villain the industry can claim as its own.
Jeff John Roberts
jeff.roberts@fortune.com
@jeffjohnroberts
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com