Sunday, August 14, 2022

[U] So -- As We Predicted In Late May 2022... Martin Shkreli May Be Getting Punked. Or He May Be Running... Multi-Layered Scams.


Welp, here on Monday morning, August 15, 2022 (UPDATE) -- the very well-respected Endpoints News (as many here well-know, mostly an "inside baseball" like life science outlet, run by the estimable John Carroll) has weighed in. . . and it credits the Bloomberg version of the events of last week -- impliedly discounting Martin's one line "I got hacked" explanation.

We should bear in mind, as Endpoints does -- that Martin DID IN FACT SELL a sh!t-ton of his MSI. . . and that his own claim is that the coin is still worth ~$7 million. So we should expect a filing in federal or state court soon, to seize from Martin the sold proceeds, in Manhattan, made by Dr. Thomas Koestler, or his appointed Receiver, Mr. Abbott. End updated portion.

At the outset, we specifically mentioned that this is the central problem with letting someone who is banned from Twitter -- and a convicted felony securities fraudster to boot -- use alternate, or alias account handles. . . on Twitter.

Others, and perhaps even MORE malign acting others. . . may follow. They may assume alt IDs that very closely echo the alt ID Mr. Shkreli is known to use.

And they may conduct rug pulls of their own -- completely separate from whatever Martin has/had up his sleeve.

That precise scenario seems to have played out on Twitter, this weekend. Someone changing the lower case "i" in Martin's alias, to a lower-case "l" [see graphic at bottom of this post here] has offered to air-drop a new coin to Martin's followers, in return for their wallet details. This, ostensibly to make up for the crash in his actual MSI coin of Friday.

The thing is. . . this too. . . could ALSO be Martin. Could be his scam -- all along.

I won't bother to sort it out -- but I will note that Martin claimed the MSI coin is still worth (in total) around $7 million in fiat (down from over $30 million, he says). I won't try to verify that.

But nowhere in writing has he said he SOLD no coin last week.

So at a minimum, if he turns up with new counsel (for his Second Circuit appeal of his life-time banning orders, via the FTC Daraprim monopoly litigation) -- we may safely infer he raised cash for his appeal last week.

And to the extent that he hasn't spent it all. . . look for Thomas Koestler, in either Kings County, NY court, or in the federal district courts in Manhattan, to come asking for any "proceeds" from coin sales -- of any kind.



Finally, to counter Ms. Smythe's illogical lunacy, on this score. . . (she said on Twitter last night that the existence of NEW fakers, faking a Martin-like alt handle, is a reason to re-admit the real Martin, give him a blue checkmark, and let him tweet). . . No, Ms. Smythe -- it is precisely the fact that Martin chose to build up a new identity with around 26,000 followers, in a matter of weeks. . . under a fake name (one that mis-appropriates Latin culture, to boot!), as a means of "ban evasion" at Twitter that causes him. . . all his own problems, now.

But I strongly suspect all of this is. . . no "bug". This is a "feature" -- so that he and the other malign actors may simply point at one another. . . saying "no, he's the bad guy -- not ME."

Y I K E S.

Onward, just grinning at the "over / under" -- on when this mess (or another similar one) leads him back into federal custody.

Cheers, one and all; and do get ready for a busy week, on all fronts. Grin.

नमस्ते

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