Discussion for article #243966
tl;dr
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the unfortunate downside to the admittedly very enjoyable arrest of shkreli is that it sucks all of the attention off the issue and away from big pharma that is just as maliciously greedy and amoral. (it was so reassuring to see the clip of claire mccaskill in a senate hearing outraged that he purchased the only copy of the wu-tang cd…) it’s just that their price gouging is done incrementally from year to year – but affects millions more people and earns billions more in profits. the nyt had a decent piece on this yesterday.
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…as are you, Marty! as are you.
Note to Justice Department: Please “No Plea Deals”.
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What me worry?
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Someone who price gouges a drug by 5000% and when the shit hits the fan lowers the price in a way that saves his obscene profit doesn’t deserve a bunch of sympathy.
From wilkipedia we have this quote:
Martin Shkreli,CEO of Turing, defended the price hike by saying, “If there was a
company that was selling an Aston Martin at the price of a bicycle, and
we buy that company and we ask to charge Toyota prices, I don’t think
that that should be a crime”
There is greed in this world and then there is rancid evil personal hateful greed.
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Mr. Shkreli’s recent actions and statements make it very hard to take anything he says as fact. Federal indictments of this sort are usually based on very solid evidence, and clearly this has been in the works for some time before the extortionate price-gouging happened.
I do wonder, however, where in this world they could find a non-biased jury for a trial. The Australian outback, perhaps?
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The eventual fine and court costs should be raised 5000% above those listed in statute.
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Shorter Shkreli:
“I am so fucked and this is all I’ve got.”
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I read this article yesterday with great interest because I like many people take a few prescription drugs, some expensive, some not. Big pharma is happy to see that light will not be shined on them for their practices because that’s not what Shkreli is being charged with.
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“Baseless”…and “without merit”!
Whoa!
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That sent me to Urban Dictionary like a lot of stuff here does. This guy reminds of the venal despicable character DiCaprio played in The Wolf of Wall Street who was glorified for his greed.
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They found a jury for Bernie Madoff
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They will get a NYC jury and hope for the best.
At first, I thought that he might get a jury trial outside of the city, but if suburban folks think that he has a stink to him, then that might not be a good idea.
Although we’re all a psyched at the prospect of justice being served for people suffering from Toxoplasmosis—the condition that Daraprim, the price of which Shkreli raised from $13.50 to $750, is used to treat—exploiting sick people for profit is perfectly legal in America.
The government alleges: PONZI SCHEME:
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Shkreli started a hedge fund called MSMB Capital Management LP that lost a lot of money. Although he told investors he had $35 million in assets under his management, the fund had less than $700 in its bank and brokerage accounts at one point.
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He started another hedge fund called MSMB Healthcare LP and used the $5 million in investments he got for it to pay back the investors he’d already cheated.
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Shkreli had co-founded yet another enterprise, the biopharmaceutical company Retrophin. Then he, allegedly, took shares from Retrophin and used them to pay off his hedge fund investors, therefore providing them with the illusion that he hadn’t lost all of their money. He then cooked his books to make it look like he was charging the investors for consulting fees rather than using his company as a personal piggy bank.
Karma:
Shkreli faces 20 years in prison for securities fraud, securities fraud conspiracy, and wire fraud conspiracy.
Karma Two:
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Martin was kicked out of his company as his sad little empire crumbles.
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A criminal lawyer representing Turing Pharmaceuticals chief Martin Shkreli has informed his client that he is raising his hourly legal fees by five thousand per cent, the lawyer has confirmed.
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Martin Shkreli accused his attorney of “outrageous and inhumane price gouging."
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The disgusting thing about this is that his pharmaceutical company was screwing poor and sick people, and nothing happened. But with his hedge fund he was screwing rich people, so for that he’s in big trouble.
However, what I find utterly ridiculous is the outrage about that stupid album. I mean, it was the band’s decision to make only one copy and auction it off – just because this a-hole was the winning bidder, so what? What does that have to do with anything? It was never going to be heard publicly, no matter who bought it, so WTF?
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He still has yet to play the album, though he was called away from the livestream while it was still in progress to take a call.
That was a prank caller blasting their bootleg copy of Once Upon a Time in Shaolin into the phone…
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I’m not sure that follows. I doubt that there are any laws that Shkreli broke re the Rx pricing, so without the other charges he’d still be sitting there scot-free. And eventually, as with all hot headlines, the media focus would shift to some other outrage. This case will keep the Rx pricing situation out there tacitly for the duration of the case, which could be a while, mentioned almost any time there is news about him. I doubt anyone for a long time hearing the name Shkreli will fail to think of his lethal price gouging. And while it stays in the public eye, Pharma just might be a focus of attention in Congress for the unconscionable gouging that’s been going on for so many years. I’m not holding my breath about that but there might be a tad bit of hope.
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