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Former convict Martin Shkreli tells the world where to invest via social media

Martin Shkreli is going all in on social media, finding an audience for his investing advice after being released from prison in May.

In the four years that the “Pharma Bro” was behind bars for securities fraud, a lot changed. A mob of retail traders sent meme stocks like GameStop soaring, nonfungible tokens (NFTs) of monkeys burst into the market and investors made and lost millions on crypto coins. These days, he’s dabbling in all of it.

Shkreli  appears to have accounts on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Substack, Twitch, Discord, OnlyFans and, apparently, Twitter. The content ranges from hot-takes on his investments strategies, to a “Date Martin Shkreli” sign up sheet and an auction of the watch he wore in prison. 

Just as meme stocks fire up again on Wall Street, the former pharma executive and hedge fund manager has been hosting question-and-answer sessions on investments popular among Reddit retail traders, including AMC Entertainment Holdings and cryptocurrencies including bitcoin and ethereum.

A representative for Shkreli declined to comment.

The former WallStreetBets moderator is also apparently getting a taste of the sometimes scammy culture around crypto, with a token associated with his new Web3 project tanking after a huge sale that he blamed on a hack. Shkreli is permanently barred from serving as a public company officer or director. But if he hopes to make a comeback in the business or investing world, social media is a questionable avenue, according to Davia Temin, who runs consulting company.

“I think he likes to be in the limelight,” she said. “But that doesn't fly for being a serious investor or business person.”

Reddit traders

Prior to going to prison, Shkreli was a combative presence on social media, where he had a huge following. His erratic behaviour, including during his 2017 trial, got him banned from Twitter after he harassed a female reporter online.

Lately, he’s been interacting with retail traders on Reddit  and created his own server with 13,000 members on the popular forum Discord. He has also hosted hours-long live-streams on Twitch.

On Substack, where he started an investing, science and technology newsletter, the topics have ranged from trading and markets analysis, his take on meme-stock AMC and criticism on Mark Cuban’s new drug company. Shkreli also appeared to be running a Twitter account under the pseudonym Enrique Hernandez, which has 26,000 followers. The account, which regularly posts the same content as his Instagram, was recently suspended.

Even if the Pharma Bro has no intention of returning to the corporate world, he’s wading into murky waters giving investment advice online. 

While sharing personal stock picks is protected as free speech, an individual can be subject to civil or criminal penalties if they give unlicensed investment advice that is personalised to an individual and are compensated for it, according to Joe Rotunda, a vice-chair on the North American Securities Administrators Association’s Enforcement Committee.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com Bloomberg