Martin Shkreli Is Found Guilty of Fraud

Martin Shkreli, accused of defrauding his hedge fund investors and a pharmaceutical company, was convicted on three of eight counts on Friday, after a five-week trial in the Federal District Court in Brooklyn.

Mr. Shkreli was convicted of securities fraud in connection with his hedge fund MSMB Capital; of securities fraud in connection with another hedge fund he ran, MSMB Healthcare; and of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, related to a scheme in which he tried to secretly control a huge portion of shares of Retrophin, a drug company he started.

He faces up to 20 years on each of the first two counts, and up to five years on the final count.

The conviction, even as a mixed verdict, was a major defeat for the divisive Mr. Shkreli, who said before the trial that he was “so innocent” that the judge, jury and prosecutors would apologize to him afterward. read more »

Will conviction wipe the smirk off his face?

Faced with a lawsuit and a criminal investigation, some people might have kept their head down and changed their behavior – but not Shkreli

When even Donald Trump thinks you look like a “spoiled brat”, you know you’ve achieved something. Martin Shkreli possesses one of the most slappable faces in America and, over the last couple of years, he appears to have been doing his best to ensure everyone in America wants to slap it. read more »

Leaker Vs Whistleblower

Here's how the Constitution protects leakers and whistleblowers

The White House is pledging to crack down on "leakers," but there are ways to blow the whistle and disclose information lawfully. read more »

Rags-to-riches: Bellevue developer who conned hundreds gets 4 years in prison

His life began in Tibet, where he slept near animals in a farmhouse and trekked across the Himalayan Mountains as an impoverished young man. Improbably, Lobsang Dargey eventually scrapped his way to the American dream — settling in a luxurious Bellevue home as a successful developer, becoming a U.S. citizen married to the sister of a tennis star, raising three kids.

Dargey’s fairytale life, it turned out, involved one of the biggest frauds of the decade in the Seattle area, scamming hundreds of investors out of tens of millions of dollars for projects from Everett to Belltown.

On Friday, two years after the scheme was uncovered by federal authorities, a federal judge in Seattle sentenced him to four years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. In addition, he had previously agreed to pay about $24 million in restitution. read more »

South Korea spy agency admits trying to rig 2012 presidential election

National Intelligence Service says it mobilised cyberwarfare experts to ensure Park Geun-hye beat rival and now president Moon Jae-in

South Korea’s spy agency has admitted it conducted an illicit campaign to influence the country’s 2012 presidential election, mobilising teams of experts in psychological warfare to ensure that the conservative candidate, Park Geun-hye, beat her liberal rival.

An internal investigation by the powerful National Intelligence Service also revealed attempts by its former director and other senior officials to influence voters during parliamentary elections under Park’s predecessor, the hardline rightwinger Lee Myung-bak.

Claims, now confirmed by the service, that it was behind an aggressive online campaign to sway voters is certain to add to public anger towards South Korea’s political system.

Park, who narrowly beat the current president, Moon Jae-in, to become the country’s first female president in the 2012 vote, is standing trial on corruption and abuse of power charges, and faces life in prison. read more »

Wells Fargo reviews more products for financial harm to customers

Wells Fargo & Co is examining whether it caused unnecessary financial harm to customers through mortgage fees, frozen deposit accounts and "add-on" products like identity theft protection, the bank said in a U.S. securities filing on Friday.

The disclosures signal that the bank's problematic sales practices go further than investors and analysts had expected after Wells reached a regulatory settlement in September over unauthorized customer accounts. read more »