Accounting: "Egad, Pharma Bro Martin Shkreli Was an Insufferable Client"

From Going Concern:

Everyone who works in public accounting experiences a bad client or two. But then again, there are bad clients, and then there are the Martin Shkrelis of the world. It’s really a disservice to the bad clients out there to lump Martin Shkreli in with them.

This CNBC report details the testimony of Corey Massella, who was a partner at Citrin Cooperman, the firm helping Shkreli’s company, Retrophin, get ready to go public. Shkreli is currently on trial for securities charges. According to Massella, Shkreli’s business is the stuff clients from hell are made of. Highlights include:

• Retrophin’s accounting described as “very chaotic.”
• Shkreli repeatedly sending “changes in the stock ownership tables,” that caused an exasperated Massella to write “WTF?” in an email.
• Shkreli getting testy over Citrin Cooperman’s questions about contractors and their requests for Retrophin’s agreements with them.
• Numerous head-scratching debit card transactions for “iTunes, Starbucks and travel expenses.”
• Compensation payments to Shkreli that didn’t run through payroll, including “a $575,000 transfer from Retrophin to Shkreli’s personal bank account” that was explained as “back pay and ‘bonus pay.'”

Then there’s this doozy....

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