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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

#31

Post by dmix »

Clubber wrote: 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…

The best explanation of the drug price phenomenon: http://slatestarcodex.com/2016/08/29/reverse-voxsplaining-dr...

Shkreli was the just the lowest hanging fruit who a) didn't have the backing of a major pharma company to mask him and b) he also happened to enjoy the attention he get from playing the "villain" character, ironically or not, in an outrage driven (social) media culture.

I also don't think it's possible to separate his identity within pharma nor his politics with the Clinton drama, from his sentencing in this case.

Nearly every single headline has started with "Pharmabro" and judges always consider external factors and personal behaviour during sentencing.

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

#32

Post by se30b »

hb3b wrote: post #14

Cruel and unusual given the crime. Half the sentence of Jeffrey Skilling who destroyed thousands of families. No question in my mind that the judge had it out for him from the get-go.

He really screwed himself over while he was on bail. He probably could have gotten off with what his attorneys wanted (around a year) if he just shut up until after the sentencing was over. But he kept trolling on livestream and twitter and acting like it was a given that he would get off easy. Obviously he was joking around with the Clinton "threat" but he should not have given prosecutors anything to use against him. I like the guy overall, his educational streams were pretty good, but trolling very powerful people while you are facing potential 20 years in prison is insane.

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

#33

Post by jcoffland »

Clubber wrote: 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…

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.

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

#34

Post by jartelt »

gfosco wrote: post #10
ModernMech wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Your honor, I must protest this sentence! After all, my clients paid back all the money they stole from the bank!"

Not really a good analogy. They invested with him, he lost it but found another way to make that money back. There wasn't any theft.

If I give you money to invest in Alphabet stock and you instead invest it in lottery tickets, that seems like theft to me regardless of whether the lottery tickets pay off or not.

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

#35

Post by Clubber »

daxorid wrote: post #23
giarc wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately it's how he got into the mess. Without illegal actions there are no sentencing procedures.

It's not quite that easy, unfortunately. The vast majority of us, just by sheer ignorance of the contents of the enormous Federal Register, unknowingly commit at least a few federal felonies per year. If the Feds want you in prison, they'll find a way.

This is absolutely correct. There are shelves and shelves of laws that no one really knows. If someone wants to go after you, it won't take much research.

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

#36

Post by toomuchtodo »

jcoffland wrote: post #33
Clubber wrote: 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…

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.

You only go to jail for being offensive in authoritarian-ruled governments. If we're not better than mob justice, please install decent people in NYC's legal system.

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

#37

Post by dgllghr »

Clubber wrote: 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…

In addition, I noticed that our system punished him for defrauding the wealthy and not for jacking up drug prices, which harms the average American.

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

#38

Post by tedunangst »

jcoffland wrote: post #33
Clubber wrote: 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…

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.

The question is whether we as a law based society should be ok with this.

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

#39

Post by matt_wulfeck »

jcoffland wrote: post #33
Clubber wrote: 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…

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.
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