Notorious pharma bro Martin Shkreli took an IQ test live on Monday night and claims to have scored a 129—a respectable showing, but less than his previous boast of 150.
But according to a person claiming to be Shkreli’s spokesperson, that’s only half the story.
In a response to The Daily Beast’s request for comment, a person identifying themselves as Taylor Warfield and purporting to be Shkreli’s director of communications claimed that he had scored 129 on the “first half” of the test, and that his final score was 258.
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“You probably only watched the first half of the IQ test, Mr. Shkreli scored 129 on the first half,” Warfield wrote. “Watch it again and add it up you will get 258.”
Shkreli later repeated this claim in a Twitter DM that reeked of trolling, writing: “do you even know how IQ tests work? that was half the IQ test, so 129*2 = a lot, like 300ish.”
Not only did Shkreli himself acknowledge that his score was 129 on the livestream, calling it a “perfectly good score,” but a score of 258 would be one of the highest ever recorded—higher even than the Guinness Book of World Records record-holder, before the anthology stopped including IQ in 1990.
Warfield did not immediately respond to emails and calls seeking clarification. (She also did not respond to an email asking whether she is the same person as Katelin Warfield, a person using the same picture and also claiming to be Shkreli’s communications director on Twitter.)
She did, however, end her initial email by saying she was “surprised you would demand a felon’s IQ, immediately after release.”
“Because frankly, every day they are testing Mr. Shkreli,” she wrote. “You wouldn’t try that on Suge knight[sic].”
The Daily Beast did not demand Shkreli’s IQ; he submitted to a voluntary IQ test and streamed it online. The 45-minute livestreamed stunt resulted in a score of 129, putting him not in the highly gifted category, nor even in the “moderately gifted” category, but in the “above average or bright” category. (Shkreli was quick to point out that he was still two standard deviations above the mean, something the proctor assured him was “very special.”)
Shkreli was released from prison earlier this year after serving four years for federal securities fraud. The former pharma exec, best known for hiking up the price of a life-saving drug, was previously subjected to an IQ test as part of a full psychological evaluation before his sentencing hearing. At the time, he wrote in a letter that he wanted to have the evaluation circulated widely, because “I want to watch the press squirm when they see I have a 150 IQ and no overt psychological issues.”
Not only did the IQ portion prove to be untrue, but the doctor who performed the psychological evaluation reported that Shkreli had multiple psychological issues, including generalized anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder and unspecified personality disorder.
Shkreli also responded separately in an email to The Daily Beast, saying that any comment—and compensation for such comment—would have to be negotiated by his attorneys.
“In the meantime,” he concluded, “may I offer you a discount code to my OnlyFans account?”
Hard pass, Mr. Shkreli.
