Martin Shkreli Cries Foul On Kanye West-Bitcoin Heist

Bitcoin always brings out some wacky headlines, and this week served as yet another reminder that there’s never a dull moment in the bitcoin world.

Remember Martin Shkreli? He’s well-known as the ex-CEO of a pharmaceutical company, who has been more recently known for his role leading the drug price-hiking saga on life-saving drugs. That quickly earned him the title of the “most hated man in America.”

So perhaps his most recent claims aren’t being taken very seriously. But then again, this story sounds almost too quirky to be true. And for now, it’s only Shkreli’s claim (mainly shared via his Twitter account).

What has been hitting the newswires is claims from Shkreli that he had $15 million worth of bitcoin stolen in a heist that was related to him reportedly trying to make a deal with Kanye West over his most recent album release (which has been surrounded with its own fair share of controversy, Shkreli aside).

How the story goes, according to Shkreli, is that he had attempted to offer the rapper $10 million in exchange for the ownership rights over his new album. Then, he was allegedly contacted by West’s people (except it was not West’s people), and he was swindled out of $15 million from fraudsters, Shkreli claims. His credit card had been stolen in a heist that he claimed was part of a multimillion bitcoin fraud scheme.

Apparently, according to Shkreli, someone on behalf of Kanye’s team was going to make the deal happen via bitcoin, and (as one could imagine) that deal turned out to be fake. Of course, this is all speculation at this point, but Shkreli went on a Twitter rant explaining his side of the story.

Here is my initial offer for the album. @kanyewest Thanks for your consideration and I look forward to your response pic.twitter.com/opJ7mlfraK

— Martin Shkreli (@MartinShkreli) February 11, 2016

There has been no official confirmation any crime was actually committed, or any money (bitcoin or not) was actually stolen. But for now, it seems that Shkreli has submerged himself into another media mess.

He also made this bold claim, however. We’ll have to see how the story plays out.

Also, idiots, I’ve gotten in touch with Sitoshi (Bitcoin’s creator) and he’s agreed to help me get my money back. I always win.

— Martin Shkreli (@MartinShkreli) February 14, 2016