Opinion
Braziel: KKR and large PE firms ruthlessly crush small bankruptcy players
“Every now and then I'll hear someone even smart friends will say, oh, well, you know, KKR is going to make sure everyone's taken care of because they don't want the bad press. I'm like, what are you talking about? It's not like Wobegon. They are going to walk …”
Insight
Braziel: Small capital bases in claims investing can reliably compound fast
“And then the claims work, I wouldn't say it's free money, but you can almost reliably compound your money on a small base, you know, like a few million bucks or something. You can Reliably compound that at pretty aggressive rates.”
Assertion Supported
Braziel: SBF gave FTX employees guaranteed 10-year million-dollar salary contracts
“I mean, Sam was giving out 10 year contracts to people, guaranteed 10 year pay contracts, you know, like million dollar contracts to like salary employees, a little bit like the, you know, like AI, you know, meta thing.”
Disclosure
Braziel pitched Scott Galloway FTX claims at 20 cents for 30-cent returns
“The whole pitch on FTX with Scott was, which is, you're buying a stake, you're buying 20 cents, you know, you're gonna get 30 cents in cash back, plus you have all this crypto sizzle.”
Assertion Partly supported
Braziel: Fortress and his firm were the only two buying Mt. Gox claims
“Mt. Gox is a good example. Fortress was my competitor on that docket and they were buying up claims too. Pete Brigger is a big Bitcoiner and he's one of the founders of Fortress and they were buying up claims and they were my competitor. On that case, they wer…”
Assertion Partly supported
Braziel: The entire 14,000 Mt. Gox creditor list was leaked
“For myself this is gonna sound ridiculous, but the entire 14,000 credit, you know, 14,000 creditors or customers was a leak list.”
Opinion
Braziel: The best investors are obscure figures who quietly walk away
“I actually think the best investors are people you've, like, never heard of. Because, you know, they make a hundred million bucks, and then they're like, I'm out.”
Insight
Braziel: Top distressed investors seek free optionality alongside asset value
“Where the okay investors in distress do right is they find stake. You know, you find something and maybe it's a double. But where the guys that really knock the cover off the ball and have outstanding returns generally are looking for that sizzle as well.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Braziel: Ponzi schemes and financial bankruptcies produce top distressed returns
“If you look at the history of distress, some of the best ones have been financial service bankruptcies, Ponzi scheme cases, as well as like the dot com cases were actually pretty good.”
Disclosure
Braziel bought Mt. Gox bankruptcy claims at $80 per Bitcoin
“The original trade, Bitcoin, was at about 300 dollars, and we were buying the claims for about 80 dollars per Bitcoin.”
Disclosure
Braziel: Original Mt. Gox bankruptcy claim investor achieved over 40x returns
“Our original investor made about 38 times his money or actually it's more than that now. It's over 40 times his money.”
Insight
Braziel: Bankruptcy transforms corporate liabilities into valuable assignable assets
“An asset is a liability and a liability can become an asset in a bankruptcy. And it's so true. And you think about it with a lease, if you have 50 leases and they're all below market, well, the debtor, a debtor can assign, assume or reject leases. So if you're…”
Disclosure
Braziel: First distressed deal was buying physical Ethnex Energy shares
“My very first, like real distressed investment was this thing called Ethnex Energy, where people had all these restricted physical shares. And so like, I literally drove around like the Northeast and bought shares off of people and like, we'd go into the local…”
