Martin Shkreli is giving you the chance to punch him in the face
How much would you pay to punch ‘America’s most hated man’ in the face?
Turing Pharmaceuticals founder Martin Shkreli came under fire last year after buying the rights to 62-year-old drug Daraprim – which is used to treat conditions including AIDS-related toxoplasmosis – and jacking up the price to $750 a pill.
The 5500% price rise sparked outrage, but Shkreli refused to back down. He was later removed as the company’s CEO after he was arrested over unrelated fraud allegations.
And now he is giving you the chance to bid to smack him in the face.
Shkreli announced the auction on Twitter, in order to raise money for the family of his friend Mike Kulich, who passed away recently.
To place a bid, he asked people to send him a direct message.
“I’ll match donation to a certain point,” he added.
“You may video the slap/punch. Mike architected my publicity stunts & I bet he is watching, smiling.”
Although there may be plenty of willing participants, you will need to be pretty wealthy to take up this once in a lifetime opportunity.
Shkreli says the highest bids so far are $78,000 and $25,000.
Shkreli caused further outrage earlier this year after he appeared before US Congress to answer questions about his company’s actions – but heeded his legal counsel’s advice to stay quiet about the incident.
The former CEO seemed detached throughout the hearing, smirking at many of the questions as he declined to answer – and even giggling at one point about the impact of his money-grabbing actions.
He has also said that he wishes he risen the price of the drug even higher – in order to “maximise profit.”
“I think I could have it raised it higher and made even more profit,” he told Forbes Healthcare Summit.
“This is a capitalist society, capitalist system and capitalist rules.”
