Distressed debt investor Thomas Braziel discusses the corporate spending and culture at FTX prior to its collapse.
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.”
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.”