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Former hedge fund manager acquires life-saving drug, raises price 5,555% to $750/pill

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by bigpern23, Sep 21, 2015.

  1. JayFarrar

    JayFarrar Well-Known Member

    If she's elected, it will go down for some as Reagan having engineered a deal with Iran to keep the hostages there, Bush knew about 9/11 and FDR was in on the Pearl Harbor bombing because he wanted war in the folder of great conspiracy theories.
     
    doctorquant likes this.
  2. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    I found out something interesting about Shrkeli and his sleazy history a little while ago. When he went out on his own (as a short seller), he wasn't very successful at first. His "firm" (using the term loosely) was working with Lehman Brothers as the executing broker -- which means Lehman didn't actually hold his money, another broker (it was Merrill Lynch) did. Lehman did some transactions for him, and then he had T+1 days to settle after it cleared -- i.e. pony up the cash.

    Apparently, in June, 2007, Shrkeli bought about $2.7 million worth of put options against the S&P 500. ... he was betting that the S&P 500 was going to decline over a certain time period. When Lehman went to settle the transaction with Merrill -- it rejected it. Either he didn't have the money or he instructed them to reject it. When they contacted Shrkeli, he told them to run it through another account (in someone else's name) at UBS. When they tried to clear it with UBS, the transaction got DQ'd there too.

    What he was trying to do is called free riding. It's as bush league as someone can get. ... He didn't have the money to do the transaction, but he put it on anyhow. ... and then planned on paying for it with the sale proceeds (if it was profitable). Lehman was having none of it, and it liquidated his position for more than a $2.3 million loss. He wouldn't pay them when they tried to collect, and they had to go to court. and won a judgment for the money.

    The irony is that Lehman went belly up less than a year later and he never paid them.
     
  3. doctorquant

    doctorquant Well-Known Member

    Because other countries either have (or are close to having) far greater cost controls in place (as compared to the U.S.), it's not at all preposterous. U.S. sales account for a very, very disproportionate share of the profits earned on new drugs. Another way of putting it is that the U.S. subsidizes, to a great degree, the new drugs enjoyed by the rest of the world.

    You could do it another way, of course. But you're not going to get as many new drugs.
     
    old_tony likes this.
  4. Tarheel316

    Tarheel316 Well-Known Member

    Seems like he should have gone to jail, too.
     
  5. zagoshe

    zagoshe Well-Known Member

    This is a classic "outrage" that is fueled by the left in their desire to paint everybody who wants to make a buck - especially when it comes to pharmaceuticals - as greedy, immoral, lawless scumbags who want to kill people!!

    Here is a very, very obscure drug that treats an extremely rare condition and it is being painted as crucial to man's existence. And don't think for one second that the whole "AIDS drug" stuff wasn't purposely yet mistakenly put in the headlines.

    Now we have all these goofballs, the same wackos that changed their profile picture to rainbows, on Facebook posting this and reposting it and talking about how this man is denying people with AIDS their medicine!!!!!!!!

    The kid is clearly a slimy little punk, you can tell that, but this idea that he is somehow denying thousands of people their medicine is silly.
     
  6. TheSportsPredictor

    TheSportsPredictor Well-Known Member

    How many people getting fucked over should we set the limit at before outrage kicks in?
     
  7. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member


    Yes, this kind of thing is extremely rare, people!!! Entrepreneurs very, very, very rarely are like this guy.

    Except maybe for the VW people who were pulling a fast one for years with their little emmissions gimmick.

    And except for the peanut sellers who passed along salmonella tained peanuts because it would have cost money to keep that off the shelves. If people died, that's unfortunate and all.

    Other than that, the market forces will make everyone behave. So relax.
     
    Big Circus and HC like this.
  8. Riptide

    Riptide Well-Known Member

    You cannot be serious.
    He looks and sounds shifty as hell.
     
  9. poindexter

    poindexter Well-Known Member

    Zag says that the idea he is somehow denying thousands of people of their medicine is silly.

    If its, say, 500, then we're all good.
     
    SnarkShark and Ace like this.
  10. zagoshe

    zagoshe Well-Known Member

    495 actually

    And that's not my point - my point is the "outrage" is because this is being painted as if this guy is withholding access to drugs for people with AIDS, which in fact he is not.
     
  11. Songbird

    Songbird Well-Known Member

    Yeah, he has a weird smile after each answer, but let's see you go on national TV for a grilling. It's a nervous tic.

    I'm more interested in his answers and how factually correct they are.
     
  12. swingline

    swingline Well-Known Member

    Those tics are his tell. He knows he's a bastard with low moral standards.
     
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