Member Info for EasiWynns

Cassandra29 - There's an interesting nuance in QCM's Q.25 about Broli, because it doesn't require him to still be employed to be valid.

In fact, I did find a link to DT's website for him from a Google search, but the link was broken, and then I found an Italian website where it seems that he may have left (quietly?) DT some time last year

Wired Italia article (via Google translate):
"The former Italian director of Darktrace, Corrado Broli, who came out in 2022, also has a past in Autonomy ... [2/2/2023 4pm correction: Corrado Broli no longer holds the role of General Manager Italy for Darktrace, as initially indicated in the piece]"

If a prospective purchaser comes along and inquires about the report and questions that QCM have asked, would DT say to them "Please refer to our RNS where we explained everything in detail".

I think not, and they'd have to come clean. And if they did come clean, what should existing shareholders (owners) make of that, keeping them in the dark while spilling the beans to some unrelated party - but only because they were forced to if they wanted a sale. Could that be construed as contempt for existing shareholders (owners)? They need to think who they have a fiduciary duty towards.

I've seen this before a number of times, where "silence is golden" - until it suddenly isn't.

Has anyone found any other research conducted by QCM on other companies, and if so, are they similar to the "paper of guff" that some have claimed QCM have produced on Darktrace?

I've found one which seems similar in approach and tactics, except even more excoriating, predicting a share price of exactly USD 0.00. Further, QCM made a complaint to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) about the company's conduct and products, but it's not clear to me whether these have been investigated, are ongoing, or rejected.

The company's share price is currently far from zero, and the company is in the process of taking legal action against QCM - and a number of other parties - for, it claims, manipulating the share price and financially benefiting from their short position and defaming the company with a campaign of disinformation, the same accusation that some here are claiming.

An extract from MarketWatch from Nov 2022 (company name removed):
. . . . . . . . . . . .
In the suit, the company claimed the short sellers had publicized that it had manipulated the testing and the results associated with the product, and the company was a fraud. The company alleged more than 240 false and defamatory comments in letters, reports and presentations, and more than 840 false and defamatory statements on social media.

One of the defendants said it might be able to turn the lawsuit against the company. "We stand behind everything we wrote," said Gabriel Grego, managing partner of Quintessential Capital Management..

"This is one of the most frivolous lawsuits I’ve ever seen, and I expect it will be quickly dismissed. If it’s not, we look forward to getting discovery on the company," Grego added.
. . . . . . . . . . . .

Interestingly, the percentage of floated shares that were shorted at end of Jan 2023 was 25.10% (twenty five point one!), according to MarketWatch today, which it seems was over 24.5% of the total shares in issue - makes the few percent of Darktrace's seem utterly inconsequential.

Marshall Wace LLP partners reportedly earned more than £720m last year, with one receiving about £320m, so not too shabby overall. Win some, lose some, I guess - but overall they seem to be winning, at least personally (not sure about their clients).

"Why did he fail with his Wirecard 'campaign'? " (Today 10:51)

Too early, perhaps.
It seems like the German financial regulator, BaFin, was attacking all those who criticized Wirecard, including those with short positions, but the fraud obviously became apparent, the company collapsed and the regulator was in big trouble.

So much so that the head of BaFin and his deputy were fired over their handling of the Wirecard scandal, which was apparently the worst accounting fraud in the country’s post-war history.

In an interview in April 2020 the founder of QCM admitted to their failure in their pursuit of Wirecard AG, and who in 2018 had unsuccessfully shorted Wirecard, a Munich fintech company whose accounting was widely criticized.

Wirecard filed for insolvency in June 2020:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wirecard_scandal

In the same interview it stated that QCM's investors, a mix of institutional investors, wealthy individuals, family offices, and endowments, have pushed him to focus on activist short selling.

"DT legal team would have been all over QCM from the first minute the 'report' landed ....." (Today 08:55)

Perhaps I can provide an alternate, somewhat counter-intuitive perspective on this: that QCM would welcome Darktrace taking formal legal action against them.

As Darktrace are unlikely to respond to QCM's questions this would not be a sustainable course of action by Darktrace in the event of legal action, which is clearly what QCM wants from Darktrace.

Further, QCM could gain access to important, supporting information (that they are currently not party to) during the legal process which might help (or hinder) their position.

So I believe that legal action initiated by Darktrace would help to establish the facts, and then the market can decide how these facts, or absence of them, should affect the value of the shares/company.

Further, other stakeholders, such as auditors and regulators, can then use these facts established in a court of law and those gained by other means to take whatever course of action they deem necessary or are obliged to take, whether against Darktrace or QCM or no one, and the matter can be then resolved.

Following QCM's report on Bio-on, it was eventually declared bankrupt:
https://www.bioplasticsmagazine.com/en/news/meldungen/20191024Bio-on-chairman-charged-with-market-manipulation-and-false-accounting.php

And I'm still not at all convinced that QCM are the jokers that some here like to portray them as.

As referred to earlier, the effect of QCM's report on Globo plc in 2015, which resulted in its precipitous demise, if anyone's interested:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globo_plc

I'm just not at all convinced that QCM are the jokers that some here like to portray them as.

PI_Winner - "Easiwyns acknowledges that the QCM report is not a fact based hence the disclaimers....I applaud you."

No, not really - or if you like facts, not at all. The point is that no one here knows whether the report is factually correct, and those who suggest it's all fabricated nonsense have no evidence to support this claim.

It appears that some years ago QCM published a report on an LSE listed company, and within 12 hour of the report being published the company had been suspended and 48 hours later the CEO and CFO had resigned admitting the fraud, and on the same day the company said it would appoint an independent forensic accounting team to investigate. The company was dissolved a couple of years later.

That's clearly not Darktrace's timeline, or outcome to date, but QCM are not your "average" shorter. And nor are Marshal Wace LLP, one of the most successful hedge funds in the world.

OracleofOldham - Thanks, take your point on that.

In the Analyst and Investor Day presentation on page 5 it does say that "With these limitations the existing corporate structure is considered unsustainable", though without comment on how long it is currently sustainable for.

PI_Winner - "The QCM report is a not an agreement between 2 parties!!!!! it is supposedly due diligence but as we know it is a pile of $Hite that QCM could not attest or stand behind."

It's not "due diligence", as it has an explicit and unambiguous warning in the slide pack to investors and shareholders in Darktrace, while calling on regulators and investigative bodies to probe further. That's not like any due diligence report that I've ever seen.

Just to reiterate, they are calling on regulators to use their published research to begin investigating their concerns with Darktrace. That may be a catastrophic act of self-sabotaging insanity - but only if QCM are in the wrong.

chique - "are you the one banging on about 'fatal' on tgram board"

No, I'm the one that agreed with RazzaB (first time ever!) that Telegram is, as they said, "only for Russians" - though I think they were joking.

I just didn't identify the language in the document that was equivalent to the words "fatal" or "unstainable".

This is beginning to remind me a bit of the situation of the Zahawi debacle. At first it was him and his lawyers saying there was nothing to get excited about and everything was fine, while failing to comprehend that there were people much smarter and more numerous busy in the background searching for anything that might take him down, some perhaps because they didn't like him, others just seeking out the truth and offended by his "truths".

This may be the position in which Darktrace now finds itself, where there will be many very smart and highly motivated people searching in the background for anything and everything they can find, some seeking profit, others "just" the truth. For long-term, long-only investors it obviously remains crucial that nothing material is found, and it seems likely to me that if there is anything to find it will be in the coming months, rather than years.

I didn't notice the urgency to re-domicile that was expressed in the recent video and accompanying presentation, where "fatal" and "unsustainable" were used.

My view is that the questions are troublesome enough for Darktrace that there will NOT be any responses to them from Darktrace in a public, leaving both those who say "everything's fine" and those "there's something a bit fishy" in the dark, so to speak.

Take Q.25 concerning Corrado Broli that has been discussed here. How would Darktrace truthfully respond to this without damaging the company's reputation?

(PS I've never read any Proactive Investors articles before, other than the one posted on this chat.)

From an earlier post by 'dubious' on Tue 23:05 from a Proactive Investors article:
------------------------------------------------
Comments from Sam Roberts, partner at Cooke, Young & Keidan, today commented on the allegations put forward by QCM:
"If we look to the recent past, there is ample evidence that scandals such as the one Darktrace finds itself mired in can, and often do, result in actual legal claims. Depending on what happens next, there is a real possibility that investors and shareholders could make claims against Darktrace to try to secure some form of financial recompense,” said Roberts.
------------------------------------------------
Any thoughts on this from those adamant that it should be QCM who should be pursued for recompense?

RazzaB - "I thought Telegram was for Russians?"

Yes it is, but it's also a warm, comforting and accommodating space where you can discuss your radical theories and concerns with likeminded people that agree with you, including "that there are less freedoms in the UK than in anywhere in the world except China" and "Russia is laughing at The West's hypocritical liberalised hellhole of a 'society'.".

It's much, much better there, so I bid you farewell and great joy in your new home.

It should be obvious when the new ones are there, as the section on "Redomiciliation" should mention "fatal" and/or "unstainable" at least once.

Seems like QCM is not going to quietly disappear, but rather continue engaging in a very public campaign on Twitter for all to see (5hrs ago):

- 'So, it appears to me that insiders are (mostly) selling their own shares, while they cause Darktrace's investors to buy those same shares them through buybacks. True integrity!'

- 'Darktrace's CEO recently purchased 48k shares in a show confidence following our report. Yesterday it was announced that she "gifted" 350k to "her brother", which presumably won't have to report a sale not being an insider. Great confidence in Darktrace! ... and great "integrity"!'

I've personally never come across a sustained, public campaign like this before that related to one of my investments.