[milankovic]

Oh, wow..

Honest question: I know that plea deals and other rather arcane behind-the-scenes agreements are a thing, but as someone who is not all too familiar with the American justice system, is that really the only relevant difference?

So, what kept Shkreli from taking a deal?

[danaliv]

The US has two parallel justice systems. One is civil, the other is criminal. The purpose of the civil justice system is to resolve disputes and amend harms. The purpose of the criminal system is to punish.

Shkreli was charged in the criminal system; Theranos was caught up in the civil system.

You can’t take a plea deal in the civil system because there’s nothing to plead to. You can only settle, which essentially means the parties to the dispute figured out an agreement without the help of the court.

[milankovic]

> The US has two parallel justice systems. One is civil, the other is criminal.

Yes, so far it's all pretty clear I think..

But since my reply has been to this comment:

> Shkreli fought it - she took the deal.

I was a bit confused by this. Because this implies there was a deal (or maybe more than one deal) in Shkreli's case, as well as in the Theranos case.

[cwkoss]

From my limited understanding, he broke the law but was able to return all the funds to investors. So there weren't damages per se, but I think statutory penalties instead.

[zaidf]

SEC cannot bring criminal charges. The Justice Department can. We will see if they do in the case of Elizabeth Holmes.

[milankovic]

Okay, interesting. Although it seems a bit strange that this would end up in Washington at the federal level, i.e. Justice Department.. I don't think that they have to deal with just any case of fraud, even big ones. But I could be mistaken.

But if the Justice Department handles this I wouldn't be surprised if this whole thing gets kind of, well, political..

Also, this somehow begs the question who brought the charges in Shkreli's case.

[milankovic]

Well, that is also my limited understanding so far..

Is it accurate to say that he broke the law by misleading his investors?

[aleeds]

He thought he could get away with it.

[milankovic]

Apparently. And it seems that Theranos actually gets away with it.