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

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

#61

Post by markoman » Tue, Jul 27, 2021, 8:45 PM UTC

kelnos wrote: post #14

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.

Oh, does this mean that you're anti-death penalty? White collar crime can exact costs on society close to a Bundy or Gacy type level. Too bad we don't have the death penalty for Corporate crime. Think of what opioids and Purdue Pharma have done to the U.S.

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

#62

Post by BitwiseFool » Tue, Jul 27, 2021, 8:46 PM UTC

gota wrote: post #51

nprz wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is getting downvotes, but it is true Shkreli got his bail revoked for offering $5000 for every strand of hair collected from HRC.

If putting a bounty to harass a person is not a crime it absolutely should be IMHO The day he started that he should be put in jail regardless of being on bail

>"offering $5000 for every strand of hair collected from HRC"

Am I alone in seeing this as an act of a sophomoric troll rather than an actual bounty put on someone?

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

#63

Post by gamblor956 » Tue, Jul 27, 2021, 8:47 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's disturbing that Skreli openly committed massive financial fraud and you're more concerned about the government doing its job.

Skreli's investors didn't sue him because they profited from the fraud. It's the downstream investors who were harmed here, and they can sue Skreli...and the investors who profited from his fraudulent investments.

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

#64

Post by hereforphone » Tue, Jul 27, 2021, 8:47 PM UTC

happytoexplain wrote: post #48

hereforphone wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you aware of the drama between Shkreli and Hillary that I was referring to?

The fact of a thing doesn't imply causality, and if causality is evident in this case, it still doesn't provide a license for glib sarcasm.

Do you believe glib sarcasm should require a license?

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

#65

Post by hereforphone » Tue, Jul 27, 2021, 8:48 PM UTC

Falling3 wrote: post #25

hereforphone wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Never threaten a Clinton (I anticipate downvotes.. and they'll be reinforcing my position that they're off-limits)

So if your comment were heavily upvoted you would've reconsidered your position? Or will any outcome whatsoever just reinforce your existing ideas?

What are my existing ideas?

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

#66

Post by crispyambulance » Tue, Jul 27, 2021, 8:48 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!

To be fair, the only reason he got pinched was because he ripped off some very wealthy and powerful investors/partners in a ponzi scheme.

The execrable stunt where he jacked-up the price of a rarely used but life-saving drug from $13/tablet to $750/tablet-- that was perfectly legal.

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

#67

Post by crispyambulance » Tue, Jul 27, 2021, 8:51 PM UTC

Enginerrrd wrote: post #32

paulpauper wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The official story was that this was unrelated to the drug price hike controversy. But it makes me wonder if the outcome would had been different had he not gotten all that negative attention in the first place.

Lol, don't wonder too hard. This is a pattern with the feds. If you go out of your way to piss off the public and be a flippant asshole to Congress, you're gonna have a hard time. Long before they announced any charges, I had a conversation with my dad about how the feds were likely to cook something up on this guy.

> cook something up on this guy.

It was PONZI scheme. The only one who did the "cooking" was Shkreli himself.

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

#68

Post by nickysielicki » Tue, Jul 27, 2021, 8:51 PM UTC

gamblor956 wrote: post #63

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's disturbing that Skreli openly committed massive financial fraud and you're more concerned about the government doing its job. Skreli's investors didn't sue him because they profited from the fraud. It's the downstream investors who were harmed here, and they can sue Skreli...and the investors who profited from his fraudulent investments.

The only thing Shkreli is guilty of is risk laundering. Nobody was defrauded. Everyone got paid. He made a huge (relatively stupid) bet that could have hurt a lot of people, but he lucked out and was able to make everyone whole. Actually, a lot of his "victims" made a lot of money.

> 4. How much did investors lose?

> Nothing. Shkreli partly repaid them with Retrophin stock and several witnesses told the jury they ended up with multimillion-dollar profits. One invested $1.25 million in Shkreli’s hedge fund, got $1.6 million back and 150,000 Retrophin shares, currently worth about $2.9 million. Another said she ended up with a $2.7 million profit from a $300,000 initial investment.

https://fortune.com/2017/08/05/why-martin-shkreli-is-guilty-...

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

#69

Post by slickrick216 » Tue, Jul 27, 2021, 8:51 PM UTC

H8crilA wrote: post #37

slickrick216 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m convinced they did this just to get their hands on the Wu Tang album. The Ol dirty bastards in Washington have always been true fans.

It's not like it's easier to seize digital assets such as stocks in a brokerage portfolio. Speaking of which, I guess he's completely broke that they bothered to go after this?

He’s going to get out. Do an excel course on Udemy and be back on the road to being a millionaire in no time.

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

#70

Post by BitwiseFool » Tue, Jul 27, 2021, 8:51 PM UTC

defaultname wrote: post #41

philwelch wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's surprisingly easy to commit a federal offense: https://twitter.com/CrimeADay

There's always a logical fallacy in this sort of argument- a) There are loads of extremely specific laws for various very specific problems. e.g. Taking obsidian from an obsidian flow federal park, for instance. b) Ergo everyone commits crimes! . We're all criminals, they just selectively choose what to enforce! b) doesn't follow at all. The vast majority of people will never even be in a situation where it was possi…

>"Ergo everyone commits crimes!. We're all criminals, they just selectively choose what to enforce!"

I highly recommend watching "Don't Talk to the Police", https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-7o9xYp7eE for a different perspective of where the GP is coming from. While it is true the vast majority of the US Code is something that simply won't apply to you (like the obsidian example), there are plenty of laws on the books that are vague and subject to abuse by a motivated prosecutor. One such example is the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which is a massive topic in-and-of-itself.