Octopus Overlords

El Guapo wrote:

LawBeefaroni wrote:
Bottom line, this guy has been able to continue along with no resistance for years and is so emboldened that he's tweeting LOLs about pricing people out of life saving drugs. He started his career doing reverse pump and dumps what, more than 10 years ago, and has moved on to owning drug companies and price gouging. Yes, he's a shitbag but there's also a problem with the regulatory system.

It's worth noting that only one thing there (the pump and dumps) is even plausibly a securities law violation. Being a horrible douchebag is not a securities law violation - at their core securities laws primarily punish lying, and he's been pretty open about being a horrible douchebag for the most part.

LawBeefaroni wrote:

El Guapo wrote:

LawBeefaroni wrote:
Bottom line, this guy has been able to continue along with no resistance for years and is so emboldened that he's tweeting LOLs about pricing people out of life saving drugs. He started his career doing reverse pump and dumps what, more than 10 years ago, and has moved on to owning drug companies and price gouging. Yes, he's a shitbag but there's also a problem with the regulatory system.

It's worth noting that only one thing there (the pump and dumps) is even plausibly a securities law violation. Being a horrible douchebag is not a securities law violation - at their core securities laws primarily punish lying, and he's been pretty open about being a horrible douchebag for the most part.

Right, I wasn't talking about him breaking the law there just, in the theme of the thread ("I know capitalism works...but..."), his horrible moral stance.

However, it's worth noting that he got to the position he is in, being able to do all that immoral stuff without consequence, by doing a bunch of illegal stuff without consequence (thus far).

El Guapo wrote: The retrophin stuff that he's been arrested for sure looks illegal, but he's denying it and he'll have his day in court, and in any event that's not really how he got to where he is now.

He was charged in a seven-count indictment unconnected to the drug price hikes imposed by his company, Turing Pharmaceuticals. The charges instead involve his actions at another drug company, Retrophin, which he ran as CEO from 2012 to 2014.

The indictment said Shkrelia and others orchestrated three interrelated fraud schemes from 2009 to 2014. It said they fraudulently induced investors to sink their money into two separate funds and misappropriated Retrophin's assets to satisfy Shkreli's personal and professional debts.

El Guapo wrote:Honestly, I think Shkreli's long-term business plan might be to ultimately offer everyone in America the chance to punch him in the face one time for $100 apiece.

Rip wrote:http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/12/17/ph ... tcmp=hpbt3

He was charged in a seven-count indictment unconnected to the drug price hikes imposed by his company, Turing Pharmaceuticals. The charges instead involve his actions at another drug company, Retrophin, which he ran as CEO from 2012 to 2014.

The indictment said Shkrelia and others orchestrated three interrelated fraud schemes from 2009 to 2014. It said they fraudulently induced investors to sink their money into two separate funds and misappropriated Retrophin's assets to satisfy Shkreli's personal and professional debts.

What makes the case interesting is that a lawyer, Evan Greebel, has been charged as an accomplice for not protecting his corporate client that Mr. Shkreli is accused of using essentially as a personal piggy bank.

Lawyers are important players in corporate transactions, ensuring their clients comply with the rules. But when legal advice pushes over the line into enabling fraud, then a lawyer can wind up on the wrong side of the law.
...
He was the lead outside counsel and corporate secretary for Retrophin while working as a partner at the law firm Katten Muchin Rosenman (he moved last summer to Kaye Scholer). Mr. Greebel’s practice involved working on corporate transactions and, more recently, helping firms involved in Bitcoin.

Mr. Greebel is charged with one count of conspiring with Mr. Shkreli to commit wire fraud in connection with the claimed misuse of Retrophin’s assets to pay off the hedge fund investors. According to the indictment, he helped draft sham consulting agreements to mask the payments so that they appeared to be related to the company’s business.
...
In a comment posted on Investorshub in February, Mr. Shkreli defended his actions by claiming that “every transaction I’ve ever made at Retrophin was done with outside counsel’s blessing (I have the bills to prove it), board approval and made good corporate sense.” That certainly makes it sound as if the lawyer was working on behalf of the chief executive.

But if the Justice Department’s charge against Mr. Greebel is true, then the first misstep appears to be that he put Mr. Shkreli’s interests ahead of Retrophin, his actual client.
...
The Securities and Exchange Commission, which also filed civil fraud charges against Mr. Shkreli and Mr. Greebel, has emphasized that it wants to focus on corporate gatekeepers for failing to protect companies and their investors from fraud.

Former Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli has asked for immunity in order to testify before a US congressional hearing. He was subpoenaed to testify about a 5,000% price increase for a drug. Reuters reported that Mr Shkreli's lawyer asked for immunity because of an ongoing Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigation into the price rise. Mr Shkreli stepped down as Turing's head following his arrest for investor fraud at a different company. In a letter seen by Reuters, Mr Shkreli's lawyer said the former CEO would "gladly cooperate" and produce documents at the hearing next Tuesday if he is given immunity. On Thursday, Mr Shkreli said he would remain silent if forced to appear at the congressional hearing. The FTC is allegedly investigating anti-trust violation by Turing Pharmaceuticals when it raised the price of the drug Daraprim. Daraprim is used to treat toxoplasmosis, an infection common in people with Aids. The drug was invented in the 1950s and acquired by Turing for $50m (£35m) in 2015. In August, Turing increased Daraprim's price from $13.50 to $750 per dose.

hitbyambulance wrote:just to rub everyone's faces in it:

Pharma CEO Who Hiked Price of AIDS Drug by 5,000% Spent Millions Buying the Only Copy of New Wu-Tang LP

killbot737 wrote:Couldn't one of those lawmakers "say" something to his face by way of a flailing arm dervish-style dance?

JSHAW wrote:
That's why the 5th amendment right is there, so a person can't be forced to self-incriminate.

JSHAW wrote:On the wu-tang album controversy, the group was insanely stupid to have only had 1 copy of
the album released. Hard for me to believe that someone doesn't have a master copy available
in which to make more of them. If they don't they're galactically stupid.

killbot737 wrote:I know lawmakers are immune to prosecution from things they say in certain circumstances.

Couldn't one of those lawmakers "say" something to his face by way of a flailing arm dervish-style dance?

GreenGoo wrote:

JSHAW wrote:
That's why the 5th amendment right is there, so a person can't be forced to self-incriminate.

I'm pretty sure him taking the 5th is not the source of animosity he has generated.

WYBaugh wrote:How can he ask for immunity to testify then plead the fifth?

Someone just shoot the bastard.

Defiant wrote:

GreenGoo wrote:

JSHAW wrote:
That's why the 5th amendment right is there, so a person can't be forced to self-incriminate.

I'm pretty sure him taking the 5th is not the source of animosity he has generated.

I don't think he can use the 5th to refuse to answer any questions

tjg_marantz wrote:It's not his fault! It's the affluenza!

LordMortis wrote:

tjg_marantz wrote:It's not his fault! It's the affluenza!

I got a drug for that but the price is based on ability to pay. How much money he got?

Defiant wrote:

GreenGoo wrote:

JSHAW wrote:
That's why the 5th amendment right is there, so a person can't be forced to self-incriminate.

I'm pretty sure him taking the 5th is not the source of animosity he has generated.

I don't think he can use the 5th to refuse to answer any questions - only those that may incriminate him...

Isgrimnur wrote:Anything you say can and will be used against you, especially if it's a matter of public record.

Martin Shkreli faces a new legal headache, a lawsuit claiming that his $2 million Wu-Tang Clan album contains illustrations ripped off from a New York artist, who now wants the former drug executive to pay for them.

In a complaint filed on Tuesday in Manhattan federal court, Jason Koza said he never allowed his fan art depicting Wu-Tang members to be used in packaging for the hip-hop group's "Once Upon a Time in Shaolin," the sole copy of which Shkreli bought. Shkreli has bragged that he had no plans to listen to the album, but bought it to "keep it from the people." The 32-year-old is also known for sparking outrage last year among patients, doctors and politicians after his former company Turing Pharmaceuticals raised the price of the anti-parisitic infection drug Daraprim by more than 5,000 percent.

Koza, 34, of Copiague, New York, said he thought his nine works would appear only on the website WuDisciples.blogspot.com. But the Fashion Institute of Technology graduate now blames Wu-Tang leader Robert "RZA" Diggs for including them in the "Shaolin" album, and Shkreli for allowing three works depicting Inspectah Deck, Ol' Dirty Bastard and Raekwon to accompany a Jan. 29 article at Vice.com. "Mr. Koza was happy when his work appeared on the website," the complaint said. "Mr. Koza never granted a license for his works to be copied or displayed anywhere (else)." Other defendants include Paddle8, which auctioned the album, and Wu Tang-affiliated producer Tarik "Cilvaringz" Azzougarh.

Koza said Cilvaringz has acknowledged the infringement, asking in a Jan. 31 email "if you want to skype discussing the use of your drawings. Thanks bro." Benjamin Brafman, a lawyer for Shkreli, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Wu-Tang did not immediately respond to a similar request. A Paddle8 spokeswoman declined to comment.

Last Thursday, Shkreli invoked his constitutional right against self-incrimination at a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing on drug pricing, and later tweeted that lawmakers in Congress were imbeciles. (Full Story) He also faces separate federal securities fraud charges.

Koza is seeking unspecified damages plus profits stemming from copyright infringement. His lawyer Peter Scoolidge said in a phone interview that Shkreli "didn't need to know" the illustrations were protected to be liable. "There is no intent requirement for copyright infringement," he said.

The case is Koza v Diggs et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 16-00956.