Vivek Ramaswamy became a millionaire while working for QVT Financial from 2007 to 2014. As a partner Ramaswamy managed QVT's biotech portfolio.
QVT's various funds are split between the U.S and the Cayman Islands, a notorious tax haven for America's super-wealthy. Eight of the firm's eighteen funds are based in the Caymans. That's one fund short of 50%.
So the American dream is to make partner with a giant hedge/private equity fund while dodging your fair share of taxes. Offshoring kept investment profits away from Uncle Sam while Vivek's peers used their serious political might to keep their preferred "carried interest" taxation.
QVT liked Ramaswamy's work and kept investing in his various pharmaceutical ventures. At least one of those (Axovant) hired Ramaswamy's mother and brother, both physicians.
Axovant went public, changing its name in the midst of setbacks. In December 2022 the company announced it would dissolve leaving investors holding Vivek's bag. At least one public pension fund bet on Axovant. It was their third worst performer in Q1 2018.
NYT reported CalSTRS also invested in Axovant.
Voters would be wise to question Ramaswamy's accomplishments. High dollar earnings from flippiing corporations makes Vivek a private equity underwriter (PEU). The above slide shows have former PEU affiliates can become pension fund dogs.
The greed and leverage boys did quite well for themselves selling affiliates at the top of economic cycles.
They managed to keep wages down for the bottom 80% as they acquired company after company, while sending jobs by the "super yacht"-load to China. There is a pattern here for those willing to see.
Politicians Red and Blue love PEU and increasingly, more are one. Vivek clearly fits into the PEU class that harmed so many voters. Once in office those politicians join in earning outsized returns, also a pattern here. It's a PEU world.
Update 8-24-23: Vivek failed to mention Hinduism's multiple gods in last night's debate introduction. Was that Vishnu, Krishna or Shiva he referenced when he said "God is real?"
Matt Stoller summarized Vivek's business career with this insight:
Vivek Ramaswamy's career seems to be one where he got rich, while his investors lost everything.
He has a dark history.
Pharma-bro Vivek got the attention of Tech-bro Elon Musk. They can drive the quality out of anything in pursuit of ego and profits, both outsized.
Update 8-25-23: The New Yorker called out Ramaswamy last December.
Ramaswamy’s Roivant advisory board included several well-known Democrats, including Tom Daschle, the former Senate Majority Leader; Kathleen Sebelius, the former Secretary of Health and Human Services under President Barack Obama; and Donald Berwick, the former administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.Dirty Daschle's association with Rama-swarmy is not a surprise. Don Berwick's is a complete shock. It shows anyone can be taken. All three resigned after Ramaswamy wrote a WSJ op-ed after the Capital insurrection on January 6th.
Politicians Red and Blue love PEU....
Update 8-26-23: Roviant became a publicly trading company by merging with an SPAC. The proxy statement said:
Roivant Sciences Ltd., a Bermuda exempted limited company (“Roivant”)...
Another tax haven.
Update 8-27-23: Vivek wants Elon Musk to be his White House advisor. Twitter X is now the home of the "blue tick" scammer. Wait until Musk turns it into a super app with digital payments. The scamming opportunities could be "next level."
Update 10-25-23: Roivant spent $15 million on a bowel disease drug and sold it for $5 billion. Telavant is the division of Roivant that made the obscene profits.
Update 11-13-23: Ramaswamy shows he has not the faintest connection to reality:
On Day 1, *instantly* fire 50% of federal bureaucrats. Here’s how: if your SSN ends in an odd number, you’re fired. That downsizes government by half. Absolutely *nothing* will break as a result. It doesn’t violate civil service rules because mass layoffs are exempt. SHUT IT… — Vivek Ramaswamy
Leveraging is the current game for billionaire wannabees. That's how many billionaires arrived.
Vivek leveraged lingering pharmaceutical drug candidates into billions of dollars while using offshore entities and employing family members.
"Any theory is correct in its own world but it may not make contact with this world."--Dr. W. Edwards DemingVivek clearly is in his own bubble.
