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Martin Shkreli is found guilty of securities fraud

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Re: Martin Shkreli is found guilty of securities fraud

#161

Post by ptr_void »

ZenoArrow wrote: post #123
ptr_void wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By his explanation: There are only a small amount of patient that patients that needs this drug. I think the number was around 2000. Also drugs are not the largest part of insurances pay for.

That doesn't make my previous statement any less true. Also, I'd suggest focusing on the wider picture. Price gouging on a single drug may have a minimal impact, but there have been numerous cases of drug companies artificially hiking prices of their products, which does make a substantial difference. There are numerous studies into this if you're interested.

I don't have much understanding of wider picture of drug prices and insurance to know it, but there certainly could be such issues. I think the comment I replied to was edited or I might have accidentally replied to wrong comment, I am not sure. On similar issue, here's Martin Shkreli proposing his own idea on this matter to keep prices down: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbkz2VVUBLE

Re: Martin Shkreli is found guilty of securities fraud

#162

Post by Sangermaine »

RunawayGalaxy wrote: post #66
CydeWeys wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The outrageous price increases directly led to people dying because they couldn't afford life-saving medication. There's no redeeming yourself from that just because you're charming or intelligent. Psychopaths often are.

FWIW, he claims that he gave the medicine away for free to people who could prove they couldn't afford it, so that he was really only screwing insurance companies. I believe that he was trying to draw media attention to the outrageous, legally-allowed colluding practices of the insurance and pharma industries. It would have been in his best interest to not draw attention to himself and slowly raise the price of the d…

>FWIW, he claims that he gave the medicine away for free to people who could prove they couldn't afford it,

Sorry, I find it hard to take the word of someone who was convicted of committing fraud. Fraud that was committed before these claims were made. I guess defrauding his investors was also some 11th dimensional chess move designed to show the weakness of the financial industry, right?

Move over Jesus, we have a new martyr who suffers for our salvation.

Re: Martin Shkreli is found guilty of securities fraud

#163

Post by corobo »

tnecniv wrote: post #40
legohead wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The YouTube video of him doing an Ebay Analysis [1] was very interesting I thought, both from a technical point of view and another look at his character. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFSf5YhYQbw

Watching Excel power users is really fascinating.

I think I got an epiphany watching this - is this what the missus sees when I'm tapping away at a bunch of (to her) garbled text flicking between text editor tabs, webpages and CLIs

Re: Martin Shkreli is found guilty of securities fraud

#164

Post by MichaelGG »

hellofunk wrote: post #134
AJRF wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He raised the price of Daraprim in order to fund R&D to find alternative treatments as Daraprim caused some nasty side effects. It was free to any individual who wished to obtain it, with Martin footing the bill. The side effect of the price hike was the insurance companies has to pay more, not individuals. So no, one couldn't argue he hurt a lot of sick people.

> It was free to any individual who wished to obtain it, with Martin footing the bill. [0] "... it says that the drug is available for free to people with deep financial need. But Dr. Aberg has watched her patients have to "jump through the hoops" to get it. Patients have to prove both financial need and health status, something that's difficult to focus on when their lives are in danger. In June, one of her patients…

So in order to save ~100% on a $100,000 treatment, they have to "jump though the hoops" and prove they need it (otherwise everyone would just do that?). OK?

Re: Martin Shkreli is found guilty of securities fraud

#165

Post by [deleted] »

kbenson wrote: post #50
swang wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Prosecutors argued that Shkreli lied to investors in two hedge funds and the pharmaceutical company Retrophin, all of which he founded. Shkreli told investors he graduated from Columbia University, that his hedge fund was large and profitable, and that he had hired an auditor, they said. These were all lies, according to prosecutors. yeah seems like a great dude...

Interestingly, his fraud seems to fall into two categories. Lying about his fund's bonafides and status on one side, and working hard to make sure those same investors got what they were expecting by founding a company, making it successful and paying them out from the profits. It sounds like he definitely lied to investors, but he apparently didn't intend to steal their money, and took pains to make sure he did not…

[deleted]

Re: Martin Shkreli is found guilty of securities fraud

#166

Post by Clubber »

swang wrote: post #22
Clubber wrote: post #5

I use to hate this guy, then I saw the Vice interview on him. It was nice to see his side of the story. I don't know much about this case in particular. It was kinda sleazy to see the congress question him about his price increases when they knew damn well it was perfectly legal and they haven't done anything to stop it. Shkreli seems to be trying to expose this hypocrisy, but the news loves their stories. Vice inter…

> Prosecutors argued that Shkreli lied to investors in two hedge funds and the pharmaceutical company Retrophin, all of which he founded. Shkreli told investors he graduated from Columbia University, that his hedge fund was large and profitable, and that he had hired an auditor, they said. These were all lies, according to prosecutors. yeah seems like a great dude...

I never said he was a great dude, but the media's portal of him is inaccurate (shocker).

Re: Martin Shkreli is found guilty of securities fraud

#167

Post by jjxw »

emodendroket wrote: post #147
jjxw wrote: post #118

There seems to be a misconception regarding what Shkreli was found guilty of. The legal case here has very little to do with the pharmaceutical pricing controversy - it is a separate case based on a separate hedge fund that he managed. The gist of it is that he took people's money to start a hedge fund, lied to investors that the fund was doing fine when the hedge fund went belly up, but ended up returning everyone's…

Well, that's true, but the article seems to suggest that his brash persona/public conduct made it hard for him to win the case.

There was a joke floating around somewhere (Matt Levine I think?) that one strategy to avoid a jury trial proceeding was to become so publicly infamous that it would be impossible to select an unbiased jury. Clearly didn't work out for Shkreli in this case.

Re: Martin Shkreli is found guilty of securities fraud

#168

Post by Sangermaine »

ImSkeptical wrote: post #142
ceejayoz wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> FWIW, he claims that he gave the medicine away for free to people who could prove they couldn't afford it, so that he was really only screwing insurance companies. Screwing insurance companies means increased costs for everyone . I'd really rather not pay 20% higher premiums every year to pad someone like Shkreli's pocketbook.

Sure, but the solution is not to wish that people like Shkreli don't raise prices on their drugs. Instead, we need to reform the US healthcare system to stop problems like this. Many drugs of similar kind, as Shkreli would point out, have a similar price. The difference is that those drugs are owned by faceless pharmaceutical companies with PR teams. Shkreli was an obnoxious person who was doing an obnoxious thing an…

>Sure, but the solution is not to wish that people like Shkreli don't raise prices on their drugs. Instead, we need to reform the US healthcare system to stop problems like this.

The solution is both. Just because a broken system allows you to get away with being a monster doesn't justify you being a monster.

Re: Martin Shkreli is found guilty of securities fraud

#169

Post by charlesdm »

austenallred wrote: post #153
emodendroket wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, that's true, but the article seems to suggest that his brash persona/public conduct made it hard for him to win the case.

In a jury trial that would absolutely sway things

Which, all things considering, is ridiculous. People shouldn't be able to be convicted because they're assholes (even if they are).

I don't live in the US, but being convicted by a "jury of your peers" is frankly, ridiculous. When has the average person been able to grasp complex matters relating to say, securities fraud? Most people aren't even able to stay out of debt.

A panel of judges with specialised experience often makes a lot more sense than a jury.

Edit: and for those voting me down, at least explain why you don't agree.

Re: Martin Shkreli is found guilty of securities fraud

#170

Post by paulgb »

0xbear wrote: post #99

I think it's fair to say that Shkreli would be left to his own devices had he not shown the audacity to charge what the market will bear. Meanwhile another person who similarly jacked up the price of a lifesaving drug beyond what many could afford, Heather Bresch, received no negative legal attention whatsoever. Ever wonder why? Because her dad is Joe Manchin. The swamp needs draining so bad.

Bumping the price of a drug is not illegal. Shkreli was found guilty for fraud unrelated to the drug price hike.
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