Page 30 - Martin Shkreli Case Study

“Shkreli “lied to investors to get their money into the funds and
then lied to them so they wouldn’t take it out,” Assistant U.S.

Attorney Alixandra Smith told jurors on July 5. She said
investors testified that Shkreli had claimed to be managing a

fund worth up to $40 million, when it actually only held a few

hundred dollars. Smith said Shrekli then used a Ponzi-like

scheme to raid a second fund to pay back an investor who

had asked for his money, according to the Times.” (3)

Prosecutors however, did admit that

“the investors got there money back, through a

combination of cash and Retrophin shares, and nobody

lost money, according to Forbes.”

“Investors may have made their money back, but Mr.

Shkreli still committed fraud,” assistant U.S. Attorney

Jacquelyn Kasulis said in court.” (3)

During the trial, Shkreli’s attorney portrayed his client as a

misunderstood "nerd" who turned up at work wearing a

doctor's "stethoscope and bunny slippers". (6)

“…… Shkreli is a minor part of a much bigger issue, every
morality play needs a villain, and, oh, what a perfect villain he

is. He is an avid user of social media, where he relishes

portraying himself as a wealthy young hedge-fund guy. He

tweets obnoxious snapshots of labels of $1,000-plus bottles of
wine like 1982 Lafite-Rothschild, along with selfies inside a

helicopter buzzing over Manhattan or posed next to a life-size

chess set by a pool in the Hamptons. In one tweet, he linked to

a video of Eminem’s “The Way I Am,” which goes, “I’m not Mr.