Carl: you have some points with which I agree.
This asensio character is: 1) well-educated and 2) not stupid. Though the two factors appear redundant, make no mistake, they should be separated. Well-educated does not account for ethics and a feeling of omnipotence. If a well-educated man's ego needs such stroking that he must cut the boundaries of what is legal, he might be considered "stupid". His educational pedigree ultimately determine very little with respect to street smarts or the desire to defraud. Many of my fellow lawyers came from fine educational backgrounds and are either incompetent or slimeballs (many more are not just so nobody thinks I am cracking on the profession - you have your losers in every profession). As for the "not stupid" component . . . well, how to say this. I have been up against the slimeiest of the slime lawyers and have both won and lost. The truly slimy ones, unfortunately, are usualy just a bit smarter than the rest. But they do have an achilles heel. Their ego. They do believe no one can take them down. And when they do get taken down, they will simply move on to the next target (perhaps an easier one) and reassert their dominance. This move by Asensio is so brazen as to literally take everyone aback. I do believe he has truly barked up the wrong tree. When KRY discloses its involvement with Venezuela's reformation in the mining industry, assuming it is as significant as everybody is assuming, it will immediately discredit the entire basis of his so-called "reports". Add to that a legal victory and Asensio may not even be worth suing as he certainly won't have deep pockets after he covers. If the news is unleashed with Venezuela, I expect to see serious criminal prosecution against Mr. Asensio.
I do wonder about one thing: I cannot at this point tell if Mr. Asensio orchestrated this to cover at a lower price and make up for the loss he has already experienced, or whether he indeed stands behind this recommendation to short and was in fact shorting further today. Curious question. Either way, it is irrelevant to KRY long-term. If he is covering, enough shorters probably shorted today on his advice to keep the short position even. If he is still shorting, all the better when the news finally does hit. At the very least, this report today reveals the caliber of people shorting this stock. I had been quite perplexed at who constituted such a large short position on this play. This explains quite a bit. sorry for the ramble. |
