Get out your tiny violins. Martin Shkreli, the man America loves to hate, appears to have lost $15 million in bitcoins after he tried to buy the rights to Kanye West’s new album.
The now-ex-CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, who hiked the price of HIV medication by 5,000 percent, was trying to buy Kanye West’s album from his record label so he could sell it on to his fans.
In an outcome that proves karma can be a b*tch sometimes, Shkreli got scammed into virtually handing over thousands of bitcoins to someone pretending to be “Kanye’s boy”.
On Sunday, Shkreli tweeted that he had sent the payment to someone called Daquan and didn’t receive anything in return. Shreli proceeded to lose his s**t, throwing a Twitter tantrum.
In the midst of his angry tweets, he even said, “I quit rap.”
If he follows through on that threat, it would be great news for fans and artists of the genre who were outraged when he bought the only copy of Wu Tang Clan’s single Once Upon a Time in Shaolin for $2 million.
The album won’t be available for public release for at least 88 years, to which Wu Tang rapper Method Man responded, "That sh*t is f*ckin' stupid", according to Pitchfork.
Shkreli threatened to destroy the copy, and even made a video dissing Ghost Face Killah, threatening to erase him, all while surrounded by three men wearing masks.
The Brooklyn-born millennial said he had been in touch with bitcoin creator Satoshi and would get the money back - and is apparently launching a GoFundMe page in an effort to raise the millions back.
Shkreli used a social video website to send out a live feed of his angst.
He said he had “two satellites circling over the east coast as we speak”,“16 drones armed with Hellfire missiles”, and “Blackwater”to get the scammer.
In another bout of bad luck, Shkreli’s credit card details were accidentally shown on the live stream, then shared on Twitter.
Of course, it’s entirely possible that this episode is just a way to gain the negative attention Shkreli apparently craves.