United States sells Wu-Tang album forfeited by Martin Shkreli • Hacker News Board

Re: United States sells Wu-Tang album forfeited by Martin Shkreli

#11

Post by adamrezich » Tue, Jul 27, 2021, 7:55 PM UTC

kgantchev wrote: post #3

I love how the government dug through the guy's entire life just to find something they could nab him on and straight up destroyed him. That's some G stuff!

another way of looking at it is, by successfully prosecuting "The Pharma Bro" and making a big deal out of it, now trust in pharmaceutical megacorporations is higher than ever. not a fan of Shkreli but dude was kind of a fall guy for the rest of his industry.

Re: United States sells Wu-Tang album forfeited by Martin Shkreli

#12

Post by bastard_op » Tue, Jul 27, 2021, 7:56 PM UTC

Someone should crowdfund the purchase and dump it to flac on piratebay. I got 5 on it...

Re: United States sells Wu-Tang album forfeited by Martin Shkreli

#13

Post by seriousquestion » Tue, Jul 27, 2021, 7:57 PM UTC

chetan_v wrote: post #2

"The contract of sale contains a confidentiality provision that protects information relating to the buyer and price." Wow that sucks, would have been quite interesting to know how the government found a buyer and how much it was sold for.

What would be the justification for making it private anyway? Shouldn't this be transparent?

Re: United States sells Wu-Tang album forfeited by Martin Shkreli

#14

Post by kelnos » Tue, Jul 27, 2021, 7:58 PM UTC

kgantchev wrote: post #3

I love how the government dug through the guy's entire life just to find something they could nab him on and straight up destroyed him. That's some G stuff!

As much as this guy may deserve it, I don't think we should be celebrating the idea that if the government has an axe to grind with you, they'll find a way to destroy your life.

Re: United States sells Wu-Tang album forfeited by Martin Shkreli

#15

Post by JaggedJax » Tue, Jul 27, 2021, 7:58 PM UTC

kgantchev wrote: post #3

I love how the government dug through the guy's entire life just to find something they could nab him on and straight up destroyed him. That's some G stuff!

If you're running a Ponzi scheme, it's best to not draw the government's attention to yourself lest they realize what you're up to.

Re: United States sells Wu-Tang album forfeited by Martin Shkreli

#16

Post by isoprophlex » Tue, Jul 27, 2021, 7:58 PM UTC

ValentineC wrote: post #5

I remember learning about this album because it was the request with the highest bounty on What.CD: https://www.reddit.com/r/trackers/comments/5abmpz/martin_shk... R.I.P. What.CD. :'(

FWIW... It still is the album with the highest bounty on redacted

Re: United States sells Wu-Tang album forfeited by Martin Shkreli

#17

Post by Ajay-p » Tue, Jul 27, 2021, 7:58 PM UTC

Now that is really unfortunate. I'm sure everyone on HN would have liked the opportunity to bid for the album.

Re: United States sells Wu-Tang album forfeited by Martin Shkreli

#18

Post by defaultname » Tue, Jul 27, 2021, 7:59 PM UTC

kgantchev wrote: post #3

I love how the government dug through the guy's entire life just to find something they could nab him on and straight up destroyed him. That's some G stuff!

He committed pretty egregious financial crimes. They didn't have to "dig" far.

People do understand that most people aren't hiding major felonies or securities fraud, right? Most of us aren't evading taxes. We aren't running ponzi schemes. We aren't defrauding lenders. You can scrutinize the situation of the vast majority of people and come up with nothing beyond maybe a tag taken off a mattress (har).

Somehow in the (post) Trump era we have loads of people who really, truly believe it is some sort of injustice when people get scrutiny for the crimes they are actually committing.

Re: United States sells Wu-Tang album forfeited by Martin Shkreli

#19

Post by titzer » Tue, Jul 27, 2021, 8:02 PM UTC

kgantchev wrote: post #3

I love how the government dug through the guy's entire life just to find something they could nab him on and straight up destroyed him. That's some G stuff!

It'd be great if the government more regularly caught, prosecuted, and convicted people at this level of criminality. Otherwise the entire society collapses under the weight of abject corruption, because prosecution is a selective enforcement tool used at the whim of corrupt politicians, rather than an automatic mechanism that operates independently.

Re: United States sells Wu-Tang album forfeited by Martin Shkreli

#20

Post by pope_meat » Tue, Jul 27, 2021, 8:03 PM UTC

adamrezich wrote: post #11

kgantchev wrote: post #3

I love how the government dug through the guy's entire life just to find something they could nab him on and straight up destroyed him. That's some G stuff!

another way of looking at it is, by successfully prosecuting "The Pharma Bro" and making a big deal out of it, now trust in pharmaceutical megacorporations is higher than ever. not a fan of Shkreli but dude was kind of a fall guy for the rest of his industry.

30 something percent of the people in the united states' are convinced that the pharma companies are trying to kill them.

Which is obviously wrong, the only thing pharma companies want is for you to be sick with an incurable, but treatable illness.