How'd he do it? Graduated near the top of his TTT. Took an overseas assignment. Made prudent financial decisions. Did work that other people didn't think to do or were not willing to do. The epitome of American entrepreneurial spirit. Here's a big congratulations from Young&Rich, JD. Carson Block you dooz it large.
From TTT (third-tier toilet) to Paying Cash for an Island?
Carson Block shortly after graduating.
Third-tier just can't hold some people down.
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Meet The Guy Who May Have Just Earned $500 Million Trading Against John Paulson
His name is Carson C. Block, and he may just cost hedge fund legend John Paulson $500 million.
He founded a company called Love Box Self Storage, "a near luxury service for high income Chinese consumers", according to CNBC, and helped author "Doing Business In China For Dummies."
Block is the founder and research director of Muddy Waters Research, a firm that says it "sees through appearances to a Chinese company’s true worth."
Unfortunately for John Paulson, Block saw through to what he thinks is Sino-Forest's true worth, and in releasing his damning report on the Chinese forest operator, sent the stock-price plummeting.
Paulson and Co. is Sino-Forest's largest shareholder, with 34.7 million shares. At least he was at the time of his 13-F filed on April 29. It's conceivable he's sold since then and before this incident. We also don't know how he's hedged, so it's possible his losses aren't quite so severe..
The stock opened at $18 yesterday, and nosedived to under $2.50 after the report -- which compared Sino-Forest to the Madoff Ponzi Scheme -- made the rounds.
So who is Carson Block?
Muddy Waters describes the 34-year-old as "an entrepreneur who’s practiced law and pioneered an industry in China."
Image: Amazon |
Prior to his entrepreneur days, he was an attorney for Jones Day in Shanghai, where he acted primarily for foreign clients involved in direct investment and M&A in China.
He speaks Mandarin, and after practicing as a lawyer for one year (he said originally he thought he'd never practice after law school), he switched into research for hedge funds and for his father, who's an investor, Barrons reported earlier this year.
He's also an adjunct professor of the Chicago-Kent College of Law, where he graduated with a JD, and teaches an overseas program in Shanghai for the school.
So I'm sure this was due to his JD and not his connections through his father.
ReplyDelete[sarcasm] I suspect too that all those professors who gave him A's had connections to his father too. Indeed his father is such a big shot that he got into a TTT instead of a TTTT. And Jones Day based in Cleveland, they hired him not out of merit but b/c his dad is a relatively unknown small-cap investor in New York. I suppose his father taught him mandarin too.
ReplyDeleteHis father is the president of a financial services company that specializes in researching and introducing Chinese companies to investment fund managers. He worked for his father's firm prior to law school.
ReplyDeleteIf you think Jones Day would have hired him to work their Shanghai office in a substantially similar role if his father had been a janitor pushing a mop you are either incredibly naive or incredibly stupid. Unlike most TTT law school graduates, the man actually had a coherent well thought out plan about why he wanted to go to law school and how it would enhance his career in finance.
Pointing at this guy as an example to TTT lemmings that couldn't get into a better law school and simply choose to role the dice thinking that a TTT law degree equals a probable chance at a high paying career is idiotic.
Fun Fact: The Chinese firm this chump is currently a majority shareholder of is currently facing accusations of fraud and the stock shares recently dropped by over 70%. Don't believe me, Google it.
ReplyDeleteYou better have more than $500 million bucks if you are calling this guy a chump. Somehow I doubt it.
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