Our Latest Installment Of The “Marty (Vainly) Struggles Against… His Widening Irrelevancy” Chronicles

Sadly, as of last night, Marty is back on FB (through surrogates) renewing an old saw of his — that of attacking a quite talented and successful journalist who also happens to be a pretty woman — Ms. Lauren Duca.

It seems his latest animating jolt was the Gillette ad, as he mentions it — at the head, and in the below pull quote…. But then he returns to his faux-wounded mediocre white male victim tropes, blaming his 2017 Twitter banishment on this patently untrue accounting of his own actions [as we have comprehensively laid out, before, here — (with the ultimate incarceration order & finding), and here]:

“…The problem is the double standard of Twitter and other social media, print media and corporate social responsibility departments. We see it in the insane Gillette ad, we see it in Twitter banning yours truly over a superimposed photo of myself over Lauren Duca’s now divorced husband. No nasty language, just a harmless collage of photos….”

Where even to begin? I know, I’ll begin… at the end, as I have no patience for this nonsense.

When banned, he was already convicted but not yet sentenced on multiple felonies — then he made what were deemed credible threats of sexual violence against this woman. Then he made credible threats of harm against the former Secretary of State (and we note especially, as did Judge Matsumoto, in Brooklyn, that the former Secretary is also a woman, as that becomes relevant, in assessing the gravity of his hatred of women — or at least… some women).

He threatened her with rape while he was awaiting sentencing, on felonies. [Her marital status — then as now — is simply irrelevant.]

He was jailed (in no small part), even before sentencing, for the above odiously lawless conduct. And to be sure, it was conduct, not expression, or “free thinking” — as he preposterously recasts it.

He belongs right where he is. And he knows it.

He is… fading now (as we’ve long said), into the inky-blackness of a cultural event horizon… from which he shall never be seen again as… relevant. And I suspect that… is what he fears… most.

And so, this is Marty, impotently raging… raging… against the dying of that particular remaining sliver of light.

Onward.

Namaste, to all those of good will, here in 2019.

Trivial Pursuits, On A Foggy Monday… Ben Brafman Leaving Weinstein’s Criminal Sexual Assault Defense Team

I post this solely because we’ve discussed Mr. Brafman’s wins (and losses) here, in criminal matters, at some length.

It seems Harvey wanted to add some more legal firepower, and he and Mr. Brafman clashed over that idea — leading to today — and Mr. Brafman filing a forthcoming formal motion to withdraw:

“…Ben Brafman has decided to leave Harvey Weinstein’s defense team, according to a source familiar with the situation. The Daily Beast revealed last week that Weinstein was hunting for new lawyers ahead of his sex-crimes trial, due to begin May 6. Superstar attorney Brafman clashed with his client after Weinstein informed him of the plan, according to Page Six. Brafman will now have to seek court permission from Justice James Burke to depart the team….”

Now you know — and for howsoever long the shutdown lasts, Marty cannot even begin his enrollment in the drug/alcohol addiction diversion program at FCI Ft. Dix (as that program is deemed a “non-essential service“). And thus Marty cannot (at present) shave any time off his sentence by completing the year long program (his current release date is in 2023).

He may run out of time to get the full credit, given the long, long wait lines, in Ft. Dix.

We shall see.

[U] For A Guy Who Depends (ENTIRELY!) On Federal Guards For His Personal Safety — This Seems An Odd Joke To Make.

UPDATED 01.14.2019 @ 1 PM EST — I should have added that the shutdown ALSO means… the drug and alcohol diversion program Marty is hoping to complete (even though — due to existing waiting lines — he hasn’t completed his enrollment, yet!), in order to win a hoped-for reduction of his actual time served sentence… is suspended, until further notice. Many MSM outlets have reported that federal prisoners seeking counseling programs while incarcerated are being turned away (as non-essential services), during the shutdown. And that likely means 2023, to Marty. End updated portion.

Marty (via surrogates, of course) has blogged on three of the last four days.

A bit manic is he, it would seem — of late. I might chalk it up to growing unease — about being around federal workers who literally hold his life in their hands — and knowing that they are increasingly pissed off, about not being paid. Pissed off, because a tiny handed despot is throwing a tantrum over his inabilty to get funding for an illogical Adderwall^®.

Marty today claims that the proportion of disposable income to drug price increases suggests there is no drug price crisis in the US. He cites some intemperate remarks by BioMarin’s CEO to support this. Of course, it is all preposterous. That supposed diminishing “proportion” ignores the rising number of people living without a meaningful wage, or means to pay for life-long prescriptions for drugs — like insulin. People are dying because of the price of insulin. And with medicare/medicaid funding stuck in the shutdown hole, many more will surely now die. So don’t believe Marty [he mentions, vainly, making this very same argument — on what he termed his “Ivy League” college speaking tour (of one stop only; all others were cancelled) — while neglecting to mention that his lunacy caused a steaming pile of dog poop… to hit him in the face — at UC Davis… charming]… when he tells this very silly lie.

But to my main point, now — (puzzlingly, even in jest) Marty closes his Saturday post with a shout out to Trump — to keep the shithole-shutdown going — for a decade, thus:

“…Keep the government shut down until our debt is retired. It will balance the budget. Just 10 years? Keep collecting taxes. In 2035, no taxes, no government. Perfect answer, and it worked in the 1800s….”

This strikes me as not very smart. At all. His guards are ALL that stops the law of the jungle from ending him, on any given morning. If the guards (now unpaid for multiple weeks) decide to look the other way, if someone decides to come after lil’ Marty… how on Earth does he think his little car will be able to save him from his fate?

He. Is. An. Idiot.

And his taunting of these able, hard working, and honest federal FCI Ft. Dix guards… is proof of his misunderstanding of the fragility of his… current situation — and his increasingly tenuous ability to remain… alive.

Idiot — sensible surrogates wouldn’t post such drivel. One or more of them ought to be serving as an editor — to save Marty from himself…. but that (common sense) seems in short supply, among his surrogates.

Onward, now — on a chilly, but clear and quiet — lustrously snow covered, azure-skied Sunday afternoon — off for a hot stone massage, to get rid of the kinks from shovelling the long walks here….

Really? Only $788,000?! Weird. Did Mr. Greebel NOT Defer The Full 3% Matching Contribution, While At Katten?! Makes No Sense.

I write to note yet even more puzzling trivia, related to Mr. Greebel. Or, his Schwab retirement accounts more specifically.

The motion practice — for two continuing garnishment writs — has generated the following Charles Schwab response letter (as a three page PDF), made public overnight, in federal court in Brooklyn — and a bit of it:

“…The funds of Evan Greebel (“Debtor”) are part of the Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP Defined Contribution Plan (“Plan”). As of today’s date, the Debtor’s account balance under the Plan’s trust is approximately $788,086 (please note that the balance may fluctuate depending upon market conditions). The plan sponsor has authorized Schwab to place a hold on the account and the assets are currently frozen….

Recall that in his peak year at Katten, Mr. Greebel billed over $10 million — and collected over $3 million in compensation, that year. He had been at the firm as a partner for several years at that point. Under ERISA, Katten would have been required to match each of his deferrals of compensation, up to three per cent of his gross take home.

So, almost universally, employees like Mr. Greebel defer right up to the three percent — to get the free matching money, from the employer. Many put more than that away, each year, federal income tax free, but almost all do take at least the three. It is free money, afterall. [Or said another way, it is already baked into what the firm is paying income partners, like Mr. Greebel in cash, every year. Not taking it, then — is essentially giving oneself a demotion in cash pay. As I say, it would make no sense.]

So, why is Mr. Greebel only at $788,000 — in that account? Doing the math backwards, either he chose to contribute far below three per cent, for several years — or did not contribute at all, for a few years… (or maybe most probably) he has already borrowed against the account, in cash — taking the early withdrawal penalty tax — to pay his legal bills, these last three years.

In any event, for a guy making what he made, the $788K looks to be… way too low.

Yep — another puzzlement.

Onward.

“Sublime — Meet Ridiculous-NESS” Department: Mr. Greebel’s Appeal May Get Bounced — For Bad Pagination Of Its Appendices…

The various ancillary criminal cases spawned by Marty’s felony spree never seem to run out of newsworthy tidbits — all (at least) in comedic “new law/new low” value. [See the two page PDF here.]

This morning, in the US Second Circuit courtrooms, in Manhattan — an order was just published that indicates Mr. Greebel’s very high priced lawyers filed one or more trial exhibits, as appendices to his opening appeal brief — with… wait for it! — incorrect pagination. [To be clear: the court is just doing its job — calling balls and strikes, based on black letter law, here. So… I genuinely feel sorry for the clerks working without pay, at the moment — who are required to police negligent nonsense like this all day.]

If a corrected, sequential Bates-stamped set of appendices aren’t filed by Wednesday night, Mr. Greebel’s appeal might be bounced.

I think Williams & Connolly’s appellate group will sort this out, but it is… hilarious — that so much bad (legal) karma surrounds everything Marty ever touched.

On a note closer to Marty’s current incarceration-housing, it seems that federal prison guards are also working without pay — many of them moonlighting on second jobs to cover the shortfall — thus putting in 16 hour days. I salute them, and know they do their level best to be fair and level-headed. But the idea of tired, sleepy overworked federal guards slinging hash to Marty and his buddies at FCI Ft. Dix…. and most higher security venues, like the Super-Max, in Florence, Colorado… is a powderkeg — awaiting nothing, so much as… a match.

I genuinely feel for Marty, and Evan — each of them are who Trump should be thinking about, as he preens for the cameras at a faux-crisis, on the southern border, Thursday. He has put thousands of federal prison guards in harm’s way — by his petulant temper tantrum driven shutdown.

Onward.

In Which The Movie Rights — To Ms. Smythe’s Forthcoming Non-Fiction Shkreli Project — Are Optioned…

Ms. Smythe tweeted overnight that the movie rights, to her forthcoming non-fiction book on Mr. Shkreli… are now under contract.

She will, she says — humorously — use this as motivation, to finish her writings. I now think this will be a worthwhile read — just as Carreyrou’s “Bad Blood” clearly is.

Congrats to her — for making some lemonade — out of these lemons. And while Ms. Smythe’s project is now actually “inked“…

For his part, Marty has been shit-posting (through his surrogates) about prison tattoos (all fantasies — none actually inked) and how Christmas bags in prison are really “great gifts” — and the days filled with so many “classic thugged out” moments.

At least one of them will have a more prosperous 2019 — the one who actually worked to unearth the harder truths, deeply-embedded in his (self-narrated) social media faux-story.

Onward, into a better 2019.

Now This — THIS — Is Fascinating: Legal Ethicists Want To File An Amicus Brief…

But let’s start the tale at the beginning: tonight Mr. Greebel’s able counsel at Williams & Connolly LLP… has filed Greebel’s opening appeal brief with the Second Circuit.

It is a massive 157 page affair. It makes many points, but the most fascinating one seems to have piqued the interest of several legal ethics professors. The crux of it, it seems, is that these professors are concerned that — in a securities law context — this conviction criminalized the rendering of legal advice. [My hunch is that Dean Stephen Ferruolo, in San Diego, has been talking this case up — at academic gatherings. But I could be mistaken.]

I am not at all sure I think so. But it makes for (as R.West has regularly marveled, “more interesting legal questions, per square foot of paper filed, than any trial in recent memory“)… good weekend reading.

To be sure, corporate securities lawyers (for companies selling securities) have always (since 1933-’34) had additional legal duties, when interacting with corporate principals while the principals’ company is conducting any securities offering (whether private or public). The notion here is that securities lawyers become “beat cops“, under the ’34 Act, when those principals misbehave (as Mr. Shkreli certainly did). And the beat cop duties include acting as a fiduciary for the entity (not the CEO, himself, as Marty insisted) — which more than occasionally will mean having to disclose bad behavior of a controlling person, “up the chain” — to the untainted independent board members, or similarly untainted major shareholders — or other, uninvolved, but ethically solid high officers.

In fact, the ’34 Act jurisprudence goes so far as to occasionally require the lawyer to make a noisy withdrawal, to alert the SEC and state blue sky regulators that a fraudulent offering is underway — and that the lawyer knows the company or its principals are behind the fraud.

With all that as background, see this passage, from Mr. Greebel’s brief:

“…Even if the Court were to conclude that the jury was correctly instructed as to the key concept of market manipulation, Mr. Greebel’s conviction on Count 8 would have to be vacated, because the district court erred in excluding expert testimony that would have provided the jury with important context for the very conduct that the government alleged was manipulative.

The court’s exclusion of Stephen Ferruolo’s testimony precluded the defense from showing that distributing shares to friendly investors is a common market practice. That testimony would have been vital to lay jurors asked to evaluate the conduct of sophisticated participants in the capital markets and to determine Mr. Greebel’s state of mind—the core element of his trial defense….”

The above, to my eye — seemingly fails to distinguish business conduct, from legal advice. If the amicus theory is going to be that Mr. Greebel was a pure “business guy” as to Retrophin, this (law profs’ amicus gambit) all is a dead letter. But if, on the other hand, the theory is going to be that the law professors will argue Mr. Grebel’s activity was allowed as simple legal advice, under existing ethical canons, then the amicus brief ought to be riveting reading. [We won’t have it on file, until mid-February 2019, if the requested scheduling holds sway.]

Reading how ethics professors square the 34′ Act aider and abettor language with “ordinary” legal advice, in used car sales, or in similar “buyer beware” settings (as opposed to “seller tell all“) — ought to be a great learning moment.

So now we wait. I do want to see the professors’ brief — before I dismiss the idea that Mr. Greebel might have reversible error here. But until then, do go read (by the fireplace, this weekend) all 157 pages — of Mr. Greebel’s claims of appealable error.

Namaste…. and enjoy!