This looks more or less like a victimless crime.
Turing Pharamaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli is in the news again. This time, it’s because of his activity in the stock market. Basically, he bought up controlling shares in a dying drug company, at rock-bottom prices. This boosted the market’s confidence in the company, so prices soared, earning Shkreli a lot of (virtual) money. In the process, a number of other people lost a lot of money — they had shorted the stock, basically betting that the stock would go down, and so they were blindsided by Shkreli’s price-boosting manoeuver. One trader now owes over $100,000 that he says he doesn’t have, and is apparently resorting to liquidating his retirement savings. There are accusations of stock “manipulation.” Our guess is that if this story didn’t include the previously-demonized Mr Shkreli, it would be seen as a victimless crime (or a non-story, more likely). It involves a bunch of people making bets on unpredictable movements on the price of a stock. Some got lucky, and others didn’t. >>>
LINK: Pharmaceuticals Rapscallion Martin Shkreli Now Playing the Stock Market Like a G****mn Pan Flute (by [Author] for Gawker)
KaloBios stock rose 4,000 percent in six days. And, hey, look at that, your boy Martin Shkreli was holding 70 percent of the company’s stock. This looked to some like a bogus spike, if not outright market manipulation, and so there were investors looking to score by shorting KaloBios again, at its new, higher price. And this was facilitated by, yes, Martin Shkreli, who was happily lending his own shares out for shorting purposes. ….
What do you think?
See also: Daraprim Price Hike Got You Down? Competition to the Rescue
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