Episode 16 - Roddy Boyd

This week The Pack visits with a friend of the show Roddy Boyd
(@RodBoydILM on Twitter). Roddy is the Editor and founder of the
Foundation for Financial Journalism. I think Roddy is among
the few remaining investigative journalists on the planet. Before
FFJ, he was a reporter for Fortune, NY Post, NY Sun, and
Institutional Investor News. In 2011 he published “Fatal Risk – A
cautionary Tale of AIG’s Corporate Suicide”, a McKinsey Business
Book of the Year. In 2012, The Huffington Post named him “one of
the most feared financial reporters in America.”  Roddy
takes us through his upbringing, his early work, and events that
shaped his career both personally and professionally. Sit back
have a drink and enjoy!


 When something like alcohol use is so intimately ingrained
in the fabric of our society, it becomes extremely difficult to
significantly alter its use and or abuse comprehensively and
beneficially. It becomes extremely difficult for many individuals
to realistically see the destructive, unhealthy, and sometimes
fatal aspects of drug or alcohol abuse. If you need help or think
you need help you are taking the first step.  


https://www.aa.org and https://www.nami.org/Home


3:15 Roddy’s background; growing up as the son of a hedge fund
titan, being taught the importance of hard work, and graduating
from Fordham University


10:18 Roddy’s aspiration of becoming a journalist which was
enhanced after the Watergate hearings, putting his dreams on
pause to pay the bills for his new family, and working his way up
from being a desk clerk


19:20 Roddy’s attempt to get a job as a writer, landing a
financial journalism gig at II and writing his biggest gets on
Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae which led him to the NY Sun and
eventually the NY Post.  Writing about overstock.com


30:00 Going after Fairfax Financial, overstock suing Rocker
Partners which led to a wave of attacks on short-sellers and
eventually journalists.


40:02 Roddy getting subpoenaed from the SEC for his Fairfax
reporting, taking the case to the state supreme court and
ultimately fighting off the suit, and how Dan and Roddy became in
contact over the wave of Chinese fraud.


 


49:10 Where were you the first time you heard about Ben Wei and
Freedom of Speech?


 


52:20 The time Roddy visited the China Media Express office,
witnessed Jeffrey Toobin-esque activities and a sleeping R&D
department, and the subsequent stop on trading the next day from
the NASDAQ.


1:00:35 Roddy’s work on Valeant and their ultimate demise, Bill
Ackman’s hypocritical stance on Valeant after playing the moral
high ground on Herbalife.


1:12:40  Roddy’s continuous work and personal sacrifice to
help bring down Insys Pharmaceuticals, and ultimately being
thanked personally by a senior DEA officer on the case.


1:20:00 How Roddy makes a living off of donations to the
Foundation for Financial Journalism, doing honest work and still
getting attacked for taking donations from short-sellers.


1:30:20 Roddy’s journey towards sobriety and the moments that
made him realize he needed to make a change, how drinking often
becomes a problem for journalists and people on Wall Street.
 How Roddy has helped numerous people reach sobriety.