amoreBloomberg News reporter Christie Smythe quit her job and divorced her husband to pursue a romantic relationship with the disgraced "Pharma Bro," who's about halfway through a seven-year prison sentence for securities fraud."I'm happy here. I feel like I have purpose," Smythe told reporter Stephanie Clifford.
Smythe first became familiar with Shkreli, a pharmaceutical executive, while covering white-collar crime for Bloomberg News. She broke the story, in 2015, that he was under federal investigation for breaking securities laws. That same year, in an unrelated matter, he became infamousSmythe regularly covered Shkreli's antics and became close to him, seeking to write an in-depth profile of him. She never got that profile, but she did upend her life.
In the Elle article, Smythe talks about maintaining a relationship with Shkreli while he's incarcerated. She spent hours traveling to and from his prison. She printed out internet memes about him on glossy photo paper. They shared their first kiss in prison, in a visitor's room smelling of chicken wings.
The relationship may have caused problems for Shkreli. During his sentencing, the judge overseeing the case cited emails exchanged between him and Smythe as evidence that he was not remorseful, which Shkreli said led to a longer sentence, according to Smythe.about Shkreli. After management at Bloomberg News told her they violated ethics rules, she quit.
"Ms. Smythe's conduct with regard to Mr. Shkreli was not consistent with expectations for a Bloomberg journalist," a Bloomberg spokesperson told Elle. "It became apparent that it would be best to part ways. Ms. Smythe tendered her resignation, and we accepted it."—Christie Smythe