Who Was Christie Smythe Married to Before She Fell for Martin Shkreli?

Elle magazine recently published an article about journalist Christie Smythe and her relationship with notorious "Pharma Bro,” Martin Shkreli. The article, which has now gone viral, details how Christie started to cover Martin’s story in 2015 and slowly gave up her own life in order to be with him. 

Christie herself says that she gave up a “perfect little Brooklyn life” for Martin, including her job at Bloomberg News and her then-husband, Devin Arcoleo. But while the Elle story goes into great detail about Christie and Martin’s budding relationship, there’s practically no mention of the man that Christie left for Martin. 

If you’re wondering about who Christie Smythe’s ex-husband is and what he does, keep scrolling…

Christie Smythe was working at Bloomberg in 2015 when she first broke the news about Martin Shkreli’s arrest for securities fraud. Despite Martin's tanking reputation and the mounting evidence of his guilt, Christie found herself increasingly obsessed with covering his story and gaining access to the man that the media had labeled the face of corporate greed in America.

Then, over the course of nine months, Christie systematically dismantled her life in order to be with Martin. She quit her job at Bloomberg News after it became clear that she was already too involved in Martin’s story to report it with an objective eye. Her relationship with her husband also began to suffer.

Devin Arcoleo warned his wife that she was getting too close to Martin and was possibly being manipulated by him. “He’s just using you,” Devin said to her after a late-night call with Martin. He felt that Martin was sucking Christie in and that she was risking her journalistic reputation for the story. 

But Christie felt that Devin was just trying to control her and she continued with her obsession. All of this came to a head one day when she chose to visit Martin in prison instead of being at a scheduled couples' counseling session with Devin. 

Christie arrived 52 minutes late to the hour-long appointment, making her priorities clear. The couple soon split and Christie moved out of her Brooklyn apartment.

Devin Arcoleo currently works at the California-based investment banking company PIMCO. He joined the company back in 2006 as an account analyst, after his graduation from the NYU Stern School of Business that same year. 

Over the years, Devin worked his way up from an analyst to a vice president at the company. 

Not a lot is known about how Devin and Christie met, but the couple had been dating for five years before they decided to get married in 2014. According to the Elle article, the couple shared a rescue dog, loved to cook together, and enjoyed literary pub crawls. 

Smythe says she warned her ex about the impending Elle article before publication. 

When asked for comment by the Daily Mail, Devin declined, saying, “No I have nothing I want to share, thank you.”