As the GameStop stock surge continues to wreak havoc on Wall Street, Lee Cooperman, the billionaire CEO of hedge fund investment firm Omega Advisors went on CNBC on Thursday to complain about the Reddit day traders behind this week’s stock market shenanigans. While the narrative that the GameStop situation is a battle between tiny David retail investors and hedge fund Goliaths isn’t entirely accurate, Cooperman certainly didn’t hurt that facade by going on live TV and cursing up a storm about his belief that the rich are being unfairly targeted because of the pandemic. He was all wound up. Via CNBC:
“The reason the market is doing what it’s doing is, people are sitting at home, getting their checks from the government, basically trading for no commissions and no interest rates. I’m not saying they’re stupid. Show me a guy with a good record consistently, and I’ll show you a smart guy.”
You’ll probably (not) be surprised to know that Cooperman hates that people are collecting stimulus checks, and he fired off a profanity when talking about how he’s required to pay his “fair share” of taxes now that Joe Biden is in office. “I hate that expression with a passion!” Cooperman yelled. “This fair share is a bullsh*t concept! It’s just a way of attacking wealthy people.”
While Cooperman is confident that the GameStop situation “will end in tears,” the hedge fund veteran does know a thing or two about questionable deals. In 2016, he paid a $4.9 million fine after settling with the SEC over allegations of insider trading. The SEC wanted to ban Cooperman from trading stocks for five years, but his lawyers fought the case down. Because it’s so hard out there for billionaires.
Naturally, people had thoughts…
Rich scumbags like this make the world a worse place… https://t.co/wJd5QGDcED
— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) January 28, 2021
https://twitter.com/ShawnIsBald/status/1354906248110604293
yes i'll have the leon cooperman and a side salad to eat thanks https://t.co/5i4r65STZv
— blaire erskine (@blaireerskine) January 28, 2021
Leon Cooperman on CNBC today: pic.twitter.com/zQPXGEgnTv
— John Jansen (@johnjansen) January 28, 2021
https://twitter.com/eric_williams6/status/1354861165432737798
Listen to this incredible crybaby pic.twitter.com/KmJvZpBQ59
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) January 28, 2021
LMAO, good old Leon Cooperman. Four years ago he had to pay an SEC fine and agree to a monitor because of insider trading: https://t.co/scPzESWumj
A year ago he was pretending to cry because Elizabeth Warren wanted to raise his taxes. https://t.co/GQKlk13iMd
— Max Kennerly (@MaxKennerly) January 28, 2021
(Via CNBC)