The former Bloomberg reporter Smyth revealed that he was in love with his subject, former drug company executive Hickory, and divorced for him. Hickory was named “America’s most hated man” for inflating the price of AIDS drugs, and is now in jail for securities fraud. News of his arrest is being broken by Smyth.
Martin Shkreli is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence for defrauding investors in 2018. Christie Smythe revealed in an interview published in Elle Magazine 20 that she left her husband for Shkreli.
Several U.S. media outlets subsequently commented on the story, some accusing Smythe of violating journalistic ethics and others applauding her for telling her story.
Hickory, who was the former chief executive of TuringPharmaceuticals, became infamous as the “Pharma Bro” after he raised the price of the AIDS treatment Daraprim 50-fold from $13.50 to $750 per pill in 2015.
Hickory was arrested in December 2015 on securities fraud charges, and Smyth, 37, was the reporter who broke the story first. Hickory’s charges are unrelated to the drug price hike controversy.
Smyth was present at Hickory’s court appearance in Brooklyn, N.Y. He was also present at his sentencing in 2018.
In an interview with Elle, Smyth described how she grew to love Hickory during her prison visits.
Smyth left Bloomberg News in 2018 and divorced her husband last year. She said Hickory has three years left to serve his sentence and she is willing to wait for his release. She also mentioned that they might have children.
Smyth tweeted late on the 20th, “What a relief to be out in the open, no matter what anyone else thinks.”
She also wrote: “You don’t know how hard it is to never mention a story like this. (The story) is so confusing and complicated. I’m glad the story was well told.”
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