Of Martin Shkreli -- A Felony Trial Update: "No Remorse" Edition...

Subtitled as "How 'Insulting, Contemptuous' Behavior Differs From 'Remorse'."

Overnight, after a very bad day for the defense, in Brooklyn's federal courthouse, Mr. Shkreli went out to drink expensive champagne at a Milo Y. debauched soirée. Perhaps it was the champagne talking, but he returned to his Murray Hill digs, to say on a YouTube live stream that -- if convicted -- he will get only three years -- citing CFTC v. Park.

This is the take-down of that notion -- from our other property, this morning.

The good soul FTD stayed up late (my condolences!) to hear Mr. Shkreli claim in a YouTube live feed that he will (if convicted) only do three years or less. [I would encourage the able AUSAs to pin this to their cork boards, for a possible September sentencing date -- this is. . . motivation. And my graphic is sincerely intended to suggest that she is. . . a "saint", by comparison -- to Mr. Shkreli, at least.]

Mr. Shkreli based that on CFTC v. Park -- a recent CFTC regulatory case (i.e., not a DoJ/US Attorneys SEC one), stemming from "commodity pool operator" charges -- not wire fraud, and "parking" charges, related to public company securities.

Ms. Park never “parked” public company securities — his on the other hand, is an eight count indictment (hers was only seven; some of which were not even felonies — all of Mr. Shkreli’s are), and she agreed to a guilty plea. She wept openly at sentencing, taking full responsibility for her crimes, and expressing genuine remorse -- to her victims (mostly friends and family).

Importantly, she is not the subject of a raft of securities class actions, spanning at least two public companies, as a control person -- leaving one very ugly public company bankruptcy, in her wake. Oh -- and she didn't menace and threaten the wife and children of one of her employees -- with whom she had sought to fraudulently "park" those same securities (essentially hiding her level of control of the involved public company -- with the goal of manipulating the entire market for that public company's shares). That's all. . . Mr. Shkreli.

And she wasn’t charged with wire fraud — she didn’t act as the kingpin, in a series of schemes in which she allegedly co-opted a lawyer, for cover (my “allegedly” is out of respect for Mr. Greebel's presumption of innocence).

Most importantly, hers is a CFTC case — not a case involving the market manipulation of an SEC-registered public company. That is, she never controlled a public company, and then defrauded the public shareholders of that ’34 Act company (twice! At KaloBios too). That all matters quite a bit. Hers was in no respect an open market fraud on our system of capital raising -- and secondary market trading. She was trading commodities which are by definition not. . . securities.

She didn’t force the government to spend enormous resources on a trial; she wasn’t contemptuous of the Judge — didn’t call the AUSAs the “junior varsity”. . . there is much more, but it all gets rather. . . redundant after a bit, no? So I'll stop with factual analysis, here.

In sum, even if Mr. Shkreli were to plead guilty right now, he’d get a minimum of ten years. He may only do five, with day for day credit, but he’ll get ten.

That’s my guess. But we shall see. . . .

Now you know, on a gray Wednesday morning here. Even so, we still eagerly await image acquisition, of the hot spot, by hovering our "science experment" fingertips over the copper swirls of. . . Jupiter. Smile.

नमस्ते