Shkreli at court

He is clearly guilty of what exactly?

You retarded or something? Aren't you following this thread?

Fraud, lying to investors, misappropriation of funds, backdating stock transfers, crime against humanity*, the whole nine yards...

*disclaimer for morons: this is a joke
 
This guy is the perfect example of everything that has gone wrong with unfettered capitalism in the US. Only difference here between him and other crooks is that others are smart enough to not arrogantly brag about their wrongdoings and they don't volunteer those information to the FBI.

What is also interesting is that in the past a huge majority of crooks and criminals who played in the upper class league and were in any way involved with investments where Jews. Makes you wonder given that only 1.8% of the population is Jewish. Madoff was by far not the first and never the last one. Either certain religous-ethnic groups have a special greed DNA that they don't seem to get under control or else what is it? Look at most white collar crime in the finance and investment arena and one group clearly stands out in the US. Just pointing out facts and stats.

His lawyer: "He was born this way"

"“You can’t convict him for the people skills he lacked,” he said. “If you want to call him names, call him names — just don’t call him guilty.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ecurities-trial-opens/?utm_term=.208ee73b48db

His opening defense seemed to be, his investors were rich and they could afford to lose a few millions here and there...
 
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It shall be an interesting case.

I hope the judge will be careful to not have this case go to the gutter as a mistrial...

His lawyer: "He was born this way"

"“You can’t convict him for the people skills he lacked,” he said. “If you want to call him names, call him names — just don’t call him guilty.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ecurities-trial-opens/?utm_term=.208ee73b48db

His opening defense seemed to be, his investors were rich and they could afford to lose a few millions here and there...
 
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/investor-shkreli-reported-too-good-161258656.html

"he reported eye-popping returns before abruptly shutting down the fund and ducking her demands to get her money back."

Not suspicious at all...

"She said she was "thrilled" when he reported she made nearly a $135,000 profit.

But a year later, Shkreli told her that he was using all the assets in the fund to start up Retrophin. When she tried to get her investment back, he stalled for months before forcing her into a settlement for shares of the company and $400,000 cash, she said."
 
Psychopaths are very good at juggling all sorts of stuff at once, way better than actual grownups. They are way better at fooling judges, cops, juries, etc too. I'm guessing that this guy comes out nowhere as bad off as he deserves.
 
ridiculous. "operational mishaps"

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...-fund-went-from-success-to-bust-in-31-minutes

"
Sarah Hassan, 27, who gave Shkreli $300,000 to invest, said she got an email at 8:13 p.m. on Sept. 9, 2012, saying she was up $135,000, a return of 45 percent. At 8:44 p.m., Shkreli sent out a second email notifying Hassan and other investors he was shutting the fund down.

"We went through operational mishaps," Shkreli said in the email. "There is no longer any cash in the funds."

Shkreli, 34, is on trial in federal court accused of operating his hedge funds like a Ponzi scheme. He took his clients’ money without their permission and used it to start Retrophin Inc., according to the U.S. Shkreli’s also accused of fleecing $11 million of the drug company’s assets to pay off investors who’d lost money in the funds.

Hassan told jurors in Brooklyn, New York, that she invested with Shkreli and his MSMB Capital on the recommendation of her father’s friend, who described Shkreli as "a rising star in the hedge fund world." Her father is Fred Hassan, the former chief executive officer of pharmaceutical giant Schering-Plough, the managing director of Warburg Pincus LLC and the ex-chairman of Bausch & Lomb Inc.
"
 
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/investor-shkreli-reported-too-good-161258656.html

"he reported eye-popping returns before abruptly shutting down the fund and ducking her demands to get her money back."

Not suspicious at all...

"She said she was "thrilled" when he reported she made nearly a $135,000 profit.

But a year later, Shkreli told her that he was using all the assets in the fund to start up Retrophin. When she tried to get her investment back, he stalled for months before forcing her into a settlement for shares of the company and $400,000 cash, she said."

Yeah he is crazy and much hated etc etc. But I don't think that investor has a case if she made $400k despite how bad he was at operations and communication.
 
if she made $400k despite how bad he was at operations and communication.

1. She didn't make 400K, it was never mentioned in the article. She was SUPPOSEDLY UP by 135K when suddenly her funds were unavailable for withdrawal. She was made whole eventually, but she didn't make extra money.

2. Let's say I am a cashier in your business. I am slowly stealing money from you to fund my gambling habit. When you say next week we will have a big audit, over the weekend I take everything from the cash register, drive to the casino, and gamble with it. I get lucky and I am able to put all the missing money back before the audit. Would you say I didn't commit a crime?
 
2. His defense seems to be: "hey said:
It's not a childish argument. I haven't followed the case, so I don't know the details, but if he's charged with any type of federal offense related to fraud, it does need at least 1 victim or intended victim. If there's no intent to defraud, then there cannot be a crime. But it sounds like in this case there's clearly a case of intent, or at least the judge wants the jury to decide intent based on the facts.

A second prong of any federal fraud offense is the amount of financial damage sustained by the victims. This is especially relevant for sentencing purposes as the entire federal sentencing guidelines is based on how much money his victims lost. The base offense only carries 6 months, then it goes up from there depending on the amount of loss. So the argument of "nobody lost money, so there's no crime" is a very valid argument.

Of course, the 2nd Circuit ruled that a mere intent to defraud, even if the scheme is unsuccessful, can satisfy the loss prong for however much money the defendant intended to defraud. I don't know specifics, but if it's true his investors got all their money back can be a strong argument against intent to defraud. But if these investors only got their money back AFTER civil/criminal investigations started against him, then his defense is out the window, and he's looking at a long prison sentence, and the judge doesn't have much authority to deviate from the below:

https://www.whitecollarcrimeresources.com/federal-fraud-sentencing-guidelines.html

He's looking at an offense level of 28 assuming no surprising upward or downward departures at sentencing trial.

Assuming no criminal history, the judge would be bound by the range of 78 to 97 months. See table here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Federal_Sentencing_Guidelines

If he paid all his victims back after he got caught, which is enough to establish guilt, but would be strong argument for a downward departure, he might be able to get as much as 5 points knocked off his offense level, and he'd only be looking at 46-57 months, but downward departures of this type are extremely rare especially without accepting responsibility (guilty plea).
 
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