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Martin Shkreli has been sentenced to seven years in prison

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Re: Martin Shkreli has been sentenced to seven years in prison

#61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shkreli has repeatedly flaunted his wealth, privilege and false sense of superiority. Although not illegal, it's offensive. Offending the public, whether right or wrong, has consequences. Shkreli is getting a taste of mob justice, or just what he asked for.

> ...Offending the public, whether right or wrong, has consequences. Shkreli is getting a taste of mob justice, or just what he asked for. Isn't that exactly what the justice system is in place to prevent?

The justice system is theoretically supposed to be somewhat isolated from this by limitations on democracy. But we've sort of morphed our way out of half of those limitations and we're almost getting the bad stuff without getting the good. The system is very prone to mass public opinion, but there's hardly anything any one individual can do to actively participate in the system. There used to be a strict upper limit of 40,000 citizens to one elected representative. Now the average is something like 20x that iirc, which is such a large number of people that it isn't really practical for most people to self organize and get their representatives attention on an issue. At the same time, people can get hyped up about what they read in internet tabloids or are told through the media, and politicians will be forced to respond to that.

Re: Martin Shkreli has been sentenced to seven years in prison

#62
post #56
post #20

Here's what we just witnessed. 1. Companies were cornering certain drugs, then hiking their prices up significantly. Shkrelli did the same thing (but stated he was willing to give it free for anyone who asked). Note, that this is not illegal in any way, but news was all over it and citizens were pissed. 2. Shkrelli, being outspoken, became the focus of this issue. He dug a hole for himself, but concerning drug prices…

How does 1,2, and 4 matter ? Did he defraud investors ? Yes. Was it illegal, yes ? How does it matter if he was a total douche. He would still be out and doing his thing if he didn't commit a crime.

Because the sentence was WAY harsher than normal because of 1,2 and 4.

It was a white collar crime. NO monetary damages. And 8 years?? Clearly they sentenced him for 8 years for political reasons

Re: Martin Shkreli has been sentenced to seven years in prison

#63
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

illegal is illegal

of course, but 7 years is a very long time. It could have been shorter, considering the lack of actual damages.

how many people get 7 years for less. time the finance jerks get treated like ordinary people.

Re: Martin Shkreli has been sentenced to seven years in prison

#64
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 3. Prosecutors, needing to do something got him on fraud charges where he misstated information on an investment but still tripled their money. I don't think the outcome should matter. Lying to investors should land you in jail. It shouldn't become okay "if investors still made money"

> I don't think the outcome should matter. According to the article, "prosecutors had pushed for at least 15 years, saying Shkreli had not shown remorse for his actions" How come the jury is allow to consider his alleged lack of remorse but is not allowed to consider the outcome ? Both are current events

If he shows no remorse, and he faced no consequences, why wouldn't he pull another scam? That makes him more of a danger.

Re: Martin Shkreli has been sentenced to seven years in prison

#65

I used to watch some of his investment tutorials on youtube as well as other videos. For someone called the "most hated man in America", he actually seemed like a nice person. I also enjoyed his trollish sense of humor.

>he actually seemed like a nice person. I also enjoyed his trollish sense of humor.

I see where you're coming from and don't want to get pedantic, but isn't as trollish sense of humor by definition at least a little mean-spirited?

Re: Martin Shkreli has been sentenced to seven years in prison

#66
post #20

Here's what we just witnessed. 1. Companies were cornering certain drugs, then hiking their prices up significantly. Shkrelli did the same thing (but stated he was willing to give it free for anyone who asked). Note, that this is not illegal in any way, but news was all over it and citizens were pissed. 2. Shkrelli, being outspoken, became the focus of this issue. He dug a hole for himself, but concerning drug prices…

Except this investigation was already in progress when the drug price thing happened.

Do you have a source?

Re: Martin Shkreli has been sentenced to seven years in prison

#67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shkreli has repeatedly flaunted his wealth, privilege and false sense of superiority. Although not illegal, it's offensive. Offending the public, whether right or wrong, has consequences. Shkreli is getting a taste of mob justice, or just what he asked for.

In our system of law being offensive is not illegal and we are be wise to remind everyone of this.

[deleted]

Re: Martin Shkreli has been sentenced to seven years in prison

#68
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't go to jail for 7 years for it. (Supposedly) not in first world countries.

You do when you also commit fraud with a 7 year sentence.

Remember this when you end up on the wrong side of the law, and the book is thrown at you when it shouldn't be. Easy to cast the first stone.

Aaron Swartz was eligible for 50 years in prison and a million dollar fine based on his computer crimes. That's fair too, right?

Y'all need some empathy and compassion. People are human, and make mistakes. The punishment should fit the crime.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Swartz#Arrest_and_prosec...

Re: Martin Shkreli has been sentenced to seven years in prison

#69

I used to watch some of his investment tutorials on youtube as well as other videos. For someone called the "most hated man in America", he actually seemed like a nice person. I also enjoyed his trollish sense of humor.

> I also enjoyed his trollish sense of humor. I think that makes the title that much easier to understand. I'm an old-fuddy-duddy (for example, I say things like 'fuddy-duddy'), but to me there are two forms of trolling. One where you're doing it to get their reaction and entertainment when they get it. I find this usually fun - the person doing it has fun, any audience has fun, and the person has that anguish-relief…

The old internet adage is that anonymity and lack of face-to-face interaction is what's caused this rude sense of humor to flourish.

Re: Martin Shkreli has been sentenced to seven years in prison

#70
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does 1,2, and 4 matter ? Did he defraud investors ? Yes. Was it illegal, yes ? How does it matter if he was a total douche. He would still be out and doing his thing if he didn't commit a crime.

Because the sentence was WAY harsher than normal because of 1,2 and 4. It was a white collar crime. NO monetary damages. And 8 years?? Clearly they sentenced him for 8 years for political reasons

it was white collar crime, so you know, its like totally not a big deal. right?

speaks to me of a culture problem here.

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