Inside the first-ever 'Fidouchies' awards, a short-seller-created fake awards show that slammed Larry Fink, Lloyd Blankfein, and more with the help of Stormy Daniels
- Short-seller Muddy Waters Capital held a screening for what it called the first annual "Fidouchies" awards - a spoof award show that celebrated financial malfeasance and criticized some of the industry's top players.
- Muddy Waters' founder and short-seller Carson Block has become one of the loudest voices within finance about what he calls "amoral investing." He told a conference room full of his peers last December that short-sellers "should put the world on notice."
- The screening's audience was roughly 30 to 40 people at the NeuHouse in Manhattan, and included fellow short-seller Jim Chanos, former short-seller Whitney Tilson, and former Bank of America managing director Omeed Malik.
- The crude 19-minute video, posted on the hedge fund's YouTube channel this morning, was MC-ed by comedian Hal Sparks, and featured a guest appearance from adult film actress Stormy Daniels, who became a national name when her affair with President Donald Trump was uncovered.
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A lot of f-bombs and trophies made out of sex toys that were spray-painted gold - that's the initial takeaway from short-seller Muddy Waters Capital's first-ever "Fidouchies" awards, a spoof award show for financial sleaziness.
Muddy Waters' founder and short-seller Carson Block has long been known for calling out companies as frauds. Outlandish attacks are often part of short-sellers' arsenal, which is unsurprising given they profit when share prices of their targets fall.
But Block has also more recently been going after the asset managers and banks that invest in the names in his crosshairs. He has become one of the loudest voices within finance about "amoral investing," and told a conference room full of his peers last December that short-sellers "should put the world on notice."
At a screening on Tuesday night for the 19-minute video - which Block partnered with producers of Netflix documentary "The China Hustle" to make - journalists, fellow short-sellers, and filmmakers took in a stunning amount of cringe-inducing jokes made at the expense of the richest people and companies in the world.
Big-name attendees at the Manhattan screening include well-known Tesla critic Jim Chanos and former Bank of America managing director Omeed Malik, who won a multi-million-dollar settlement from the bank for defamation after he was fired over claims of sexual harassment. He has since started a boutique bank known as Farvahar Partners.
The video itself was a major production. Adult film actress Stormy Daniels, who became a national celebrity when news of her affair with President Donald Trump was leaked, gave out an award for "Regulator With The Limpest Dick" in the video (it was the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, in light of the opiod crisis.)
Comedian Hal Sparks was the MC for the whole thing, cracking jokes about former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, and more.
BlackRock declined to comment. Goldman did not immediately return request for comment.
The video, screened at the NeueHouse in Manhattan, is mostly shock humor, and also included cameos from investigative reporter Roddy Boyd and Block himself. Block told Business Insider that some parts were so controversial that the original choice for MC, Andrew Dice Clay, backed out after reading script.
Block also said the Daniels was paid $10,000, plus travel expenses, for her appearance in the video, while Sparks was much more expensive.
Block, it seems, is sticking to what he told attendees of the Kase Learning conference last year, which was created by former short-seller Whitney Tilson, who also attended the screening Tuesday night. At the conference, Block implored people to "name names" of people hurting society.
At the event Tuesday, Block said he hoped to get that same message out with some humor.
Even the credits got in jabs at various people, like Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who is listed as being in charge of make-up in reference to the scandal around him donning dark makeup and a turban during an 'Arabian Nights' themed party in 2001.