A True Pharma Bro
Many of us know Martin Shkreli from his 2015 pharma endeavors. He raised the price of a life-saving drug by over 5,000% while working at Turing Pharmaceuticals. He has also started another pharmaceutical company as well as two hedge funds.
Mr. Shkreli is on trial at the Federal District Court in Brooklyn, charged with eight counts of securities and wire fraud. He denies the charges, which relate to his time running two hedge funds and at Retrophin, a drug company. But he is much better known for instituting steep price increases on lifesaving drugs as a pharmaceutical entrepreneur.
I'm not here to decide whether he is innocent or guilty but potential jurors seem to have already made that decision.
More than 120 potential jurors in the fraud trial of Martin Shkreli were dismissed Monday, with some calling him “a snake,” “the most hated man in America” and “the face of corporate greed.”
Martin Shkreli showed few emotions and no nerves when going into court yesterday. Many potential jurors are under the false impression that the trial is about his pharmaceutical price hike rather than a defrauding of investors.
There are many mixed views regarding Martin. Shkreli himself has even gone out and said that if anyone truly couldn't afford the higher priced pharmaceutical he is willing to give them away for free from his website. Regardless, I'm curious as to what you baboons think of this pharma bro.
Should he be idolized? Would you go as far as to call him a snake? Do you think that his trial will be run fairly? There are many concerns that:
“If the defendant takes the stand and testifies,” she said, prosecutors may introduce some of his exploits in the pharmaceutical world, too.
I'm curious as to what your opinions on this situation are.
He gets a solid B- from me.
He leaked singles off The Carter V but is keeping the Wu-Tang album, this man should be hanged.
He's a douche... A really smart douche
How is he smart? His life is in ruin...
100% agree that the credentials that get cited by people to demonstrate his intelligence seem to consist of 1) low-sophistication cons, 2) amoral (but not particularly creative) business decisions. If you couple that with his obviously unquenchable need for attention from strangers, hard to have anything but disdain for the dude.
Personally, I just hate that this idiot's behavior has provided another confirmatory data-point for the hipsters who believe all of finance is a front used by Rothchild/the Illuminati to quash the socialist revolution.
Wait, so that's not what we're here to do?
The six worst words in the English language, "trial by jury of one's peers."
Dude is a douche (or more accurately as an above poster stated, "a really smart douche"), but his reputation makes him guilty before the trial begins, which is pretty shitty in my opinion. There is no place for "karma" in our legal system, and while i absolutely believe you get what you deserve out in the real world, the court of law is not the place for that.
I wonder if doing all that he could to make himself look like Public Enemy Numero Uno was part of a plan? I find it difficult for a judge to not agree to the fact that it is next to impossible for MS to get a fair trial by jury anywhere in America.
If his lawyers thought this was true they would've had a bench trial
You know, I agree in principle with everything you just said.
But at the end of the day - on the endless list of society's problems, whether this asswipe gets thrown under the bus with a biased jury and is subsequently convicted probably doesn't even crack the top 1,000.
If I were him, which I'm not, I wouldn't have appeared on any media outlet (VICE, The Breakfast Club, CNBC, Forbes, etc) and portrayed myself as a pharmaceutical mastermind in the guise of a modern day Robinhood. He should have remained silent after raising that drug price and let his lawyers handle his public image.
+1 for the Margin Call reference.
What scene is he referring to? I've seen the movie but can't recall.
I'm friends with him on Facebook, since I talked to him when he gave a speech at my school, and I really think he's just an attention-seeker. Nothing he did was really that bad, especially since subsidization solves for low-income folks not being able to get their medications, but he didn't really mind people thinking he was a snake, it even seemed like he enjoyed being seen as a horrible person, which gives him way too much credit. I really don't think he did anything morally incorrect at all, as he has a legal obligation to maximize profits to his shareholders, and the price of the drug going up mostly hurts insurance companies, if anyone.
Insurance company costs increasing -> those insured see higher premiums. So no, it does it anyone insured.
His argument was for the most part that his drug represented so little of the overall insurance market that it shouldn't really affect consumer prices.
I just wonder how long he's been posting on this site under the name Goldstein or angel molester
LOL amazing! my name is goldstein @Angel Molester" you have been exposed!
He's either a giant douche or a turd sandwich. You decide.
I never actually looked into this guy, but apparently, this guy interned at a hedge fund when he was 17 and then founded his own hedge fund in 2006 (he graduated with his Bachelor's degree in 2004, which means he must've worked and studied simultaneously). Things seem to go downhill from there, essentially wiping out two hedge funds due to short bets and becoming famous for being a major asshole.
He gets some sympathy points for purchasing that Wu-Tang album.
Overall, major douche suffering from megalomania who successfully managed to make the entire world hate him.
If starting two +1 billion dollar companies is going downhill for you, I'm not quite sure what else one would have to do in order to be viewed successful from your point of view.
Not letting your personal shortcomings overshadow your business success would be good starting point.
Imagine that in terms of WSO in 2003;
"My name is Martin and I go to Baruch College. I chose Baruch because I didn't like high school so my grades weren't perfect. I did an internship at a well known hedge fund recently and I am sure I want to pursue finance as a career. Not all firms do OCR at my school so my plan is to start my own hedge fund when I graduate. What do you guys think?"
If you watch his valuation videos he does put more effort into discussing his trading philosophy than most. At the very least I admire his ambition.
So, he doesn't know a lot about HC investing? It seems that he does though...
While he may be a pretty shit person, I would not really doubt his intelligence. He seems to be very knowledgeable in the pharma world and even helped develop some new drug to treat a rare disease called Sparsenetan I think.
I recall thebrofessor stating in one of his posts that all of the successful individuals that he has encountered do their best to avoid attention and stay out of the media. I think this type of attitude is wise.
Ray Dalio is a perfect example of this. The most the media can say is that Bridgewater is "weird".
I like the way he plays the media with being the most hated man in America thing, its funny seeing all the news anchors and commentators loose their collective shit. I think he is a smart guy who feeds off negativity and is compensating for being bullied in middle school. Don't have an issue with him
D-bag. Do not know if he is guilty or not.
Incredibly intelligent and pisses people off with no conscience. This is the poster boy for Fuck You Money. His actions are so over the top anyone who actually gets riled up by him is a child, much like Lavar Ball.
or has HIV....
Do you know the difference between TE (which Daraprim treats), and HIV?
/delete - was replying to a non-nonsensical post
I thought he was a human parasite for denying people their medications. Despite what you might think about entitlement programs they will only pay so much, so the argument that he was only harming the government is a farce. I do think he is a very smart individual, that invests in a very difficult industry. I did not know that he gave the drugs away for free on his website, so that does make me re-consider my initial thoughts, but I have a feeling it is something along the lines of a free 30 day supply.
IMO he epitomizes what is wrong with this industry. Smart or not, I have a feeling he is going to be, for a lack of a better word, a "martyr" in the sense that to satisfy public opinion and basically admitting to defrauding the government, he will get the book thrown at him.
Edit: removed Jordan belfort analogy.
I don't understand how he can possibly be perceived as "funny", He used a bottom feeder approach and guess what, those tend to be quite successful.
Oh well, I am sure he will write a book from prison "Alpha Douche" that will be misconstrued by a large portion of people analyzing finance and think strategies such as his are indeed good. Or, just put more gas on the fire for more regulation. Either way he is a poor representative for the community.
I watched a Q&A with him a while back, because like most of us, I was a huge skeptic of this guy in the beginning.
I don't know how true these metrics are, but he said something a long the lines of 'Generally only one in every two hospitals keep this medication in stock this, and of the two they only EVER have one bottle' speaking of how rare it is. I have also seen he does give it away for free although I am not sure the quantity.
Him pleading the fifth in front of the congressional committee was hilarious though.
He was referring to an experimental HIV drug (I think) that had significant uses for rare types of cancer. The original medication was on like the UN Essential Medicines list or something.
Which one are you referring to? The one he raised the price on was Daraprim, for TE (toxoplasmosis encephalitis)
Skreli is just some annoying, loud-mouthed megalomaniac that appeals to the painfully naïve Reddit troll crowd.
i can empathize with his love for being hated
also it was an aids drug so like... who really cares?
What is the NPV of your life?
Do I think the guy is a douche? No, arrogant would be more appropriate. Regardless he's just a businessman trying to make as much money as possible. He does not and should not care if someone needs a life-saving drug and his company decides to raise prices 5,000x.
Is it wrong? Morally and ethically sure. However I think the attention needs to go back towards the federal government and how they look at patent laws among other issues. Blaming Pharma Bro for high drug prices is idiotic and he's nothing but a scapegoat for Congress douchebags to parade around their dumbass constituents so they can score some quick wins and show their people, "Look at me I'm doing something!"
I also agree "Trial by your peers" is a terrible thing. When I've been on jury duty one look around makes me hope I never end up in such a situation because my peers are frankly retarded and don't understand the purpose of a jury and concepts such as jury nullification. More importantly these people are not rational thinkers and make decisions based on emotion rather than facts.
Can you elaborate on the government looking at patent law part? I do agree that the US patent system needs some serious fixing as these days even the most ridiculous patents get issued but I'm not quite sure how that would help the Daraprim situation?
FutureHFM I should've clarified but my point was rather than look for a scapegoat to deflect blame perhaps Congressmen and women should focus on the drivers of the high cost of drugs. For example the business model and relationships between Pharmacy Benefits Managers, look into regulation on generic drugs, perhaps look into whether or not a certain drug has a monopoly (just like products and corporations), and lastly with respect to patents perhaps see if they can be reformed in that if you acquire drugs or a drug maker than shorten the length of the patent to discourage situations where drug makers are acquired for the sole benefit of jacking up the price.
I'm not saying the above are solutions but wasting time with hearings is just dumb. Find a solution and engage with all those involved in the pharma business. Doing this I would assume would be far more beneficial and actually result in change we can see.
Hope that makes sense...
https://www.youtube.com/embed/5rWA3thlVws
The jurors should have to beat him in a game of league of legends for a conviction.
It's funny that he's being beaten like a piñata in the limelight while the people that do what he does to a factor of 100 laugh and pet their political puppets.
As I've asked in the past, why isn't Corzine behind bars?
I mean, I understand why, but your point is 100% correct on the hypocrisy.
When I was in banking, we did some work for Retrophin. He was always the smartest guy in the room, but really abrasive. Pretty similar to his public persona.
any good stories?
I don't see how he is anything but a fraud. Even if he wasn't, why would you support him after he skyrocketed the price of aids medicine? Kind of a dick move... lots of those people need that medicine and could barely afford it even before Shkreli got ahold of it.
It was a toxoplasmosis encephalitis drug and ~70% of the people who got it, got it for free. Only like ~2,000 people can potentially even benefit from the drug.
It was really fucking over the insurers which are the people who pay him....
That being said he is probably going to jail for being a huge fucking troll/jackass in public.
I was bored so I looked up the case the FBI filed with the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
Under "The MSMB Capital Hedge Fund Scheme" they allege, among other crazy things:
... In approximately December 2010 and January 2011, the defendant MARTIN SHKRELI, together with others, continued to induce investments in MSMB Capital based on material misrepresentations and omissions. On or about December 2, 2010, Investor 1, a Capital Limited Partner whose identity is known to the Grand Jury and whom SHKRELI had been encouraging to invest in MSMB Capital since early 2010, asked SHKRELI in an email about, inter alia, the fund's assets under management and the names of its independent auditor and fund administrator. SHKRELI told Investor 1 that MSMB Capital had $35 million in assets under management and that the fund's independent auditor and administrator were Rothstein, Kass & Company, P.C. ("Rothstein Kass") and NAV Consulting Inc. ("NAV Consulting"), respectively. At the time of this representation, MSMB Capital did not have an independent auditor or administrator, and SHKRELI had lost through trading the approximately $700,000 that had been invested by the four Capital Limited Partners. In fact, as of November 30, 2010, the value of assets in MSMB Capital's bank and brokerage accounts totaled approximately $700 (!!!).
In reliance on the defendant MARTIN SHKRELI's material misrepresentations and omissions, on or about December 8, 2010, Investor 1 sent $1,000,000 by wire transfer to MSMB Capital's brokerage account. Approximately one month later, on or about January 5, 2011, Investor 1 sent $250,000 by wire transfer to MSMB Capital's brokerage account. In approximately January 2011, three additional individuals invested approximately $1,000,000 in MSMB Capital based on SHKRELI's material misrepresentations and omissions. In sum, eight investors, whose identities are known to the Grand Jury, invested a total of approximately $3,000,000 in MSMB Capital.
On or about February 1, 2011, the defendant MARTIN SHKRELI took a large short sale position in Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc. ("OREX") in MSMB Capital's brokerage account at Merrill, Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Incorporated ("Merrill Lynch"). Specifically, SHKRELI sold short over 32 million shares of OREX. **Contrary to SHKRELI's representations to Merrill Lynch, MSMB Capital had **failed to locate OREX shares to borrow in order to settle MSMB Capital's short sales. As a result, MSMB Capital failed to settle a short position of over 11 million shares of OREX, which Merrill Lynch ultimately closed at a loss of over $7 million. In addition to the losses in the Merrill Lynch account, MSMB Capital suffered over $1 million in other trading losses in approximately February 2011. Based on these trading loses, the value of MSMB Capital's bank and brokerage accounts, not including the OREX loses at Merrill Lynch, **declined from more than $1.12 million on or about January 31, 2011 to $58,500 **at the end of February 2011. MSMB Capital did not engage in any trading after February 2011.
...
If any of these and the other damning claims they detailed in their indictment are remotely true... he's a goner.
Moral of the story kids: you are free to go bust and lose all your investors money. That is the beauty of a free society and an unregulated hedge fund industry. HOWEVER, if you lie to your investors and misrepresent your firm/fund (and use their money to buy rare rap albums), then that is fraud.
Thanks for breaking down the statements in the suit. +SB
My take: Shkreli is the world's richest loser.
I find his smugness amusing. I also find the reactions that he elicits also very entertaining. However, I believe that his entertaining nature and smugness will dissipate rapidly because there is no way that he will get a fair hearing.
He UPENDED and DISRUPTED the PHARMACEUTICAL industry. Truly an INCREDIBLE human being and a FRIEND to all!
Follow-up: Martin Shkreli was found guilty in 3 out of the 8 charges against him. Like my post above, it was pretty clear that the FBI's accusations were very specific and damning. However, it sounds as though what he did (fraud) was more so out of ignorance (of financial ethics and law) than pure malice.
He knew he was breaking the law. However, the law is stupid if you pay back investors legitimate high returns. This wasn't a mutual fund. He's a jackass, but I hope he wins the appeal.
Yeah, his investors just got annoyed because they felt they weren't in charge of their assets, so they decided to get him on these really specific charges where he just exaggerated or omitted info.
Looks like he's facing up to 20 years.
Breaking: Martin Shkreli Convicted (Originally Posted: 08/04/2017)
Today, "Pharma Bro" Martin Shkreli was convicted on two counts of security fraud and one count of conspiracy. Though he was acquitted of five other counts of conspiracy, Shkreli could face 20 years in prison - the maximum sentence for security fraud. Regardless, Shkreli is convinced the final verdict will be lenient.
said Shkreli after the verdict was reached.The defense's arguments were that Shkreli is an "eccentric genius", that he did not mean any harm, and that his investors, instead of losing money, made a return on their investment. The prosecution argued that he misled his investors and board members.
I don't know what his intentions were and I don't think they are relevant either way, but for the rest, I agree with both arguments.
What are some of the issues from an investors standpoint if you have been mislead, but did not lose money? Do you think his sentence will be closer to a full 20 years, or merely a few months? What does he deserve? Won't he just go to "Club Fed" either way?
Theres another thread on this.
Can you link it to me please? I made an effort to search the topic before I posted and the topic came out 1 hour ago...
Matrin Shkreli Can't Stay Out Of The Spotlight (Originally Posted: 09/28/2016)
Presented without comment:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/martin-shkreli-raffling-chance-punch…
let's start a gofundme and get the mountain to be our surrogate
That's an awesome idea.
Otherwise I'm sure Tyson would do it, he's always looking for a few minutes of fame.
This guy is actually really smart. I've watched his YouTube live stream things, and kid knows his shit, but he's just an arrogant elitist asshole. So pretty much like 80% of the WSO community lol.
You know what... I applaud him for using his infamy for a good deed. Raising money by raffling off the opportunity to slug him in the face in order to help raise money his dead friend's son (who has Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia) is actually pretty legit. Plus, whoever punches him in the face will definitely have a great story to tell.
I sort of agree, but I'm sure the ultimate purpose is really just to keep his name in the headlines. Even though the net benefit is good, there is a self serving purpose to this.
Preface: I think this guy is a complete tool
I also get the feeling if he were instead a black female making all the exact same moves, "she'd" be a hero in the main stream media.
Smh, what in this topic had anything to do with race/gender or am i missing something? So feeble minded and insecure about your place in the world you cant go one day without blaming others for your own misgivings. My friend search the emptiness within you, you'll find the answer there. In the mean time, keep your unrelated prejudice remarks at your 'Make America Great Again' rallies.
I don't understand why he is so desperate to keep his name in headlines? I've read the SEC charges filed against him and he's pretty much cooked once he goes to trial. Maybe he wants to become a celebrity so he can try and find a public speaking gig or something once he gets out of jail.
Shkreli resigns as Turing Pharma CEO (Originally Posted: 12/18/2015)
Too funny.
The guy's a jackass. I was talking with a good friend who used to run a decent sized healthcare book shortly after the Daraprim pricing news and he said that everyone in HC on the street knew the guy had defrauded everyone so it wasn't exactly news to insiders. But to do that pricing trick when you're a crook is just painting a target on your back and going to get him an even longer time in prison. The American public likes nothing more than a Wall Street type doing the perp walk on Park Avenue.
He also said Shkreli isn't the brightest bulb because everyone in the business looks at old, cheap drugs like Daraprim and tries to figure out how to make money off of them and it's not rocket science to just raise the price. But they know all that's going to do is bring heat on you from the general public and everyone in pharma because it makes them all look like schmucks.
I'm sort of very concerned about the process of this investigation. This happened years ago and they are just now filing charges against him. I hope this was an ongoing investigation before he started making headlines. Investigating people because Hillary Clinton has beef with specialty pharma doesn't sound very constitutional to me.
Yes, the investigation has been going for several years - his old company Retrophin alerted authorities to his illegal activities a long time ago. Of course his very public exploitation of AIDS victims painted a giant target on his back. FBI was licking their chops at the opportunity to take down 1) Evil Pharma CEO 2) Evil Hedge Fund manager. Looks like christmas came early!
From a regulatory standpoint, it will be pretty difficult to regulate the pricing of specialty pharma. For now public perception is probably the strongest tool to curb drug price hikes because the Feds don't have cohesive drug pricing strategy.
Like @WhaleofWallStreet said, he's been being investigated for a long time. I thought I read somewhere that he was investigated on some of his first trades with Cramer when he was a teenager. Don't believe that everything's a political conspiracy theory. People get indicted for securities fraud all the time but most of them aren't the size of Bernie Madoff or didn't put a bullseye on their back by increasing the price of an old drug X000% used to treat immunocompromised AIDS patients and babies.
Moral of the story: one, don't commit a crime/fraud, but, two, if you do commit a crime/fraud, don't publicly be a jackass (even if what you did was legal) and get your name plastered across the media as being a douchebag.
Hahahahaha
http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/lawyer-for-martin-shkrel…
This cannot be real life.
Then who will bail out Bobby Shmurda? :(
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