Fooling Some of the People All of the Time, a Long Short (and Now Complete) Story, Updated with New Epilogue - Paperback

by David Einhorn (Author), Joel Greenblatt (Foreword by)

A revealing look at Wall Street, the financial media, and financial regulators by David Einhorn, the President of Greenlight Capital

Could 2008's credit crisis have been minimized or even avoided? In 2002, David Einhorn-one of the country's top investors-was asked at a charity investment conference to share his best investment advice. Short sell Allied Capital. At the time, Allied was a leader in the private financing industry. Einhorn claimed Allied was using questionable accounting practices to prop itself up. Sound familiar? At the time of the original version of Fooling Some of the People All of the Time: A Long Short Story the outcome of his advice was unknown. Now, the story is complete and we know Einhorn was right. In 2008, Einhorn advised the same conference to short sell Lehman Brothers. And had the market been more open to his warnings, yes, the market meltdown might have been avoided, or at least minimized.

• Details the gripping battle between Allied Capital and Einhorn's Greenlight Capital
• Illuminates how questionable company practices are maintained and, at times, even protected by Wall Street
• Describes the failings of investment banks, analysts, journalists, and government regulators
• Describes how many parts of the Allied Capital story were replayed in the debate over Lehman Brothers

Fooling Some of the People All of the Time is an important call for effective government regulation, free speech, and fair play.

Front Jacket

Praise for FOOLING SOME OF THE PEOPLE ALL OF THE TIME

The culture of corporate greed that you depict is one that must be held to account if we are to prevent companies and bad actors from engaging in practices that are harmful, not only to investors, but also to our national economy.
--Senator Olympia J. Snowe

What you will find within the pages of this book will blow you away. This is a tale of deceit, fraud, misrepresentation, cloak-and-dagger antics, millions and millions of wasted taxpayer dollars, and an unbelievable amount of effort expended by Einhorn and others to bring it all to light. . .This book may go down as one of the classic financial forensics books of our time.
--Clyde Milton, Seeking Alpha

But the most troubling material concerns an issue that is bigger than Allied and Einhorn's battle: it's the way criticisms of corporate behavior are received in the marketplace. Many, including the SEC, appeared inclined to shoot the messenger.
--Bethany McLean, Fortune

In 2002, David Einhorn--one of the country's top investors--was asked at a charity investment conference to share his best investment advice. His response: short sell Allied Capital. At the time, Allied was a leader in the private financing industry with a reputation that had never been questioned. But Einhorn claimed Allied was using murky accounting practices to prop itself up. At the time of the original version of Fooling Some of the People All of the Time, the outcome of his advice was unknown. Now, the story is complete and we know Einhorn was right. He was right again when in 2008 Einhorn advised the same conference to short sell Lehman Brothers. With a new and substantial epilogue, the paperback edition of Fooling Some of the People All of the Time provides a detailed conclusion to the gripping battle between Allied Capital and Einhorn's Greenlight Capital and describes how many parts of the Allied Capital story were replayed in the debate over Lehman Brothers.

Back Jacket

Praise for FOOLING SOME OF THE PEOPLE ALL OF THE TIME

"The culture of corporate greed that you depict is one that must be held to account if we are to prevent companies and bad actors from engaging in practices that are harmful, not only to investors, but also to our national economy."
--Senator Olympia J. Snowe

"What you will find within the pages of this book will blow you away. This is a tale of deceit, fraud, misrepresentation, cloak-and-dagger antics, millions and millions of wasted taxpayer dollars, and an unbelievable amount of effort expended by Einhorn and others to bring it all to light. . .This book may go down as one of the classic financial forensics books of our time."
--Clyde Milton, Seeking Alpha

"But the most troubling material concerns an issue that is bigger than Allied and Einhorn's battle: it's the way criticisms of corporate behavior are received in the marketplace. Many, including the SEC, appeared inclined to shoot the messenger."
--Bethany McLean, Fortune

In 2002, David Einhorn--one of the country's top investors--was asked at a charity investment conference to share his best investment advice. His response: short sell Allied Capital. At the time, Allied was a leader in the private financing industry with a reputation that had never been questioned. But Einhorn claimed Allied was using murky accounting practices to prop itself up. At the time of the original version of Fooling Some of the People All of the Time, the outcome of his advice was unknown. Now, the story is complete and we know Einhorn was right. He was right again when in 2008 Einhorn advised the same conference to short sell Lehman Brothers. With a new and substantial epilogue, the paperback edition of Fooling Some of the People All of the Time provides a detailed conclusion to the gripping battle between Allied Capital and Einhorn's Greenlight Capital and describes how many parts of the Allied Capital story were replayed in the debate over Lehman Brothers.

Author Biography

DAVID EINHORN is the president of Greenlight Capital, which he cofounded in January 1996. Greenlight Capital is a value-oriented investment advisor whose goal is to achieve high absolute rates of return while minimizing the risk of capital loss. Einhorn is the Chairman of Board of Greenlight Capital RE and also serves on the boards of Hillel; The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research; and of the Robin Hood Foundation.