Let the Apes Have Wall Street
Matt Taibbi, 10 June 2021
The much-publicized war over “meme stocks” drags a longstanding Wall Street ripoff out of the shadows, to hilarious results
On CNBC’s Fast Money last week, anchor Melissa Lee appeared to mention the unmentionable. She was talking with Tim Seymour, CEO of Seymour Asset Management, who made offhand mention of the hedge funds shorting now-infamous stocks like AMC and GameStop. “Look, there are a lot of short sellers out there who have been borrowing stock they didn’t have,” Seymour said.
“Naked shorts, yeah,” said Lee.
The Korean Stockholders’ Alliance is located in Yeouido, Seoul’s financial and political district, on the fifth floor of an officetel building mostly occupied by financial companies. Jung Eui-jung, the 62-year-old head of the Alliance and the sole resident of its office, points out the window to a large, bright-yellow bus parked outside on Eunhaengro (“bank street”), so named because it is home to South Korea’s two main state banks. The Alliance is an advocacy group that represents retail investors, with around 41,000 members. Its current mission statement is displayed in block letters on the side of the bus: “I hate short selling!”