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Martin Shkreli has been jailed following a peculiar Facebook post:
Martin Shkreli, the former pharmaceutical executive who is awaiting sentencing for a fraud conviction, was sent to jail on Wednesday after a federal judge revoked his bail because he had offered $5,000 for a strand of Hillary Clinton's hair.
Mr. Shkreli, who was free on $5 million bail while he awaited sentencing, had made two Facebook posts offering cash to anyone who could "grab a hair" from Mrs. Clinton during her book tour.
At the hearing in Federal District Court in Brooklyn, Judge Kiyo A. Matsumoto said that Mr. Shkreli's post could be perceived as a true threat. "That is a solicitation to assault in exchange for money that is not protected by the First Amendment," she said.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by choose another one on Saturday September 16 2017, @11:56AM (3 children)
> Wow, this guy is an idiot. It's a wonder he ever managed to make money in the first place.
Or alternatively the guy is a rule-breaker which is what made him more likely to make money as an entrepreneur.
See for example: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/14/business/entrepreneur-young-trouble.html [nytimes.com]
I suspect there is much truth in this, along the same lines as the "psychopaths make the best leaders" debate.
I would also note that success as an entrepreneur also tends to be associated with overconfidence and arrogance, which this guy clearly has in spades. He also clearly doesn't know when to turn it off. He is already found guilty and awaiting sentencing, he is very likely going to jail anyway, and he does this and then bounces into court to basically say "no big deal, just a joke". The Judge, who probably never wanted to give him bail in the first place but there was some rule about non-violent crime and non-risk offenders, now has the perfect excuse to say "now you're a risk to people" and send him down.
(Score: 5, Funny) by Virindi on Saturday September 16 2017, @12:16PM (1 child)
So what you're saying is, he should run for President?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 16 2017, @03:31PM
We don't need another Hellary Cliton running... That's why The Donald got elected.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 16 2017, @04:41PM
Psychopaths don't make the best leaders in most situations though. It's primarily selection bias. You have to demand these things if you're going to get them and psychopaths are much more likely to demand them and refuse to take no for an answer.
That definitely does not mean they're good leaders. Situations where you wind up with a genuine trolley problem are relatively few and far between and in most cases you can deal with the ethics of it by just having a set of criteria about layoffs. Even just a last in first out deals with most of what the moral dilemmas.
Having a dash of psychopathy may be helpful, but being a psychopath definitely isn't. If you don't' believe me, just look at all those businesses that effectively run themselves out of business trying to feed the C level executives' egos. Being a good leader requires at least the capacity for empathy and psychopaths do not have that. At best, they have the ability to fake it and that's not really good enough.