A federal judge sentenced former pharmaceutical executive and hedge-fund manager Martin Shkreli to seven years in prison Friday following his earlier conviction on three of eight counts of securities and wire fraud charges.
According to reporters present in the Brooklyn courtroom, Shkreli gave an emotional and tearful speech prior to his sentencing, taking blame and responsibility for his actions and saying he had changed as a person since his conviction. US District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto reportedly handed him a box of tissues and took a lengthy amount of time reviewing his transgressions and history.
The sentencing caps a long, public saga for Shkreli, who is widely reviled for drastically raising the price of a cheap, decades-old drug, as well as provocative and offensive online antics, including harassing women.
Obligatory Nelson HaHa
Source: ArsTechnica
KSWB-TV reports
He was convicted on August 5, 2017 of securities fraud and conspiracy in what prosecutors said amounted to a Ponzi scheme. Shkreli called the charges "a witch hunt of epic proportions".
During his sentencing on Friday in Brooklyn federal court, Shkreli, 34, broke into tears and pleaded with the judge for leniency.
"I look back and I'm embarrassed and ashamed", he told the court. "I am terribly sorry", he said to his investors, "I lost your trust."
At his trial last year, Shkreli often wore a smirk and was chastised by the judge for his behavior, including for an incident in which he told reporters that the prosecutors on the case were "junior varsity". He also ignored the advice of his lawyer by commenting on the trial via social media and YouTube.
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(Score: 5, Interesting) by fyngyrz on Monday March 12 2018, @12:06AM (2 children)
They are. But they haven't been offering anything sufficiently better, so they have never gotten my vote. I bloody well wish they would. Capital-L libertarians almost always leave me shaking my head at their callous outlooks; lower-case libertarians are rarely on the ballot.
The green party has had some pretty severe problems too; for instance, until 2016, they were pushing homeopathy. From their then-planking:
Idiots.
Also: when there's someone like Trump on the ballot, I'm afraid that in order to be able to sleep at night, I have to vote for an opponent who has an actual chance of beating them.
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Monday March 12 2018, @12:51AM (1 child)
Homeopathy is probably the correct treatment for hypochondria, and for any non-bacterial condition for which a patient is demanding antibiotics. The placebo effect is real, medicine should make use of it.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by fyngyrz on Monday March 12 2018, @01:34PM
No. It isn't. Homeopathy is largely (ideally entirely) outside the realm of normal medical procedure and personnel.
When you teach / encourage people to reach for homeopathic nostrums for whatever ails them, even when imaginary, then that's the path they will be familiar with and tend to lean towards. Then, when they are actually ill, they can end up without appropriate treatment and are considerably more likely to distribute disease to the rest of us.
If the process is one that encourages fake treatments like homeopathy, and/or the "treatment" sourced outside actual medical channels with no one but quacks and marketroids in the line of prescribing / dispensing treatment, then appropriate remediation for the real thing can all too often go by the wayside.
If someone thinks they are sick, they should see a doctor, not a shelf full of fake "remedies" marketed by the unscrupulous and/or stupid. The doctor, in turn should never mention homeopathy except in the context of "that is of no benefit to you, as it is absolutely without useful effect."
Lastly, hypochondria is not an illness that can be cured by dispensing placebos, regardless of the patient's temporary adjustment of mental state. Treatment for it should be referred to a psychiatrist, rather than just pushing the problem down the road with a fake treatment. The objective of quality medical treatment is to solve problems; not to pretend to solve them.