by Oui
Mon Jun 25th, 2018 at 09:32:43 PM EST
The Brexit Short: How Hedge Funds Used Private Polls to Make Millions
The private exit poll that appears to have had the most clients was conducted by Farage's favorite pollster and friend, Damian Lyons-Lowe, whose company is called Survation. It was sold to multiple clients and correctly predicted Leave, according to Farage and other sources familiar with the results. In an interview with Bloomberg, Farage said he learned of Survation's results before making at least one of two public concessions that night, meaning there was a good chance he was feeding specious sentiment into markets.
Continued below the fold ...
Survation wasn't alone. As YouGov's Twyman predicted a Remain victory on Sky, three of his colleagues were watching from inside the London office of a hedge fund. In addition to the public exit poll for Sky, YouGov earlier sold a private exit poll to this fund, which provided data to traders that matched the results Twyman presented on television, effectively giving them an edge for betting on the rise in the pound sparked by his comments, according to sources familiar with the events. YouGov staff code-named it "Operation Pomegranate." It charged the hedge fund roughly $1 million, according to knowledgeable sources. Separately, YouGov gave Sky its poll for free. The hedge fund did extremely well, according to three sources familiar with the situation.
You can read this story also in The National (Emirates) ... hmmm who was it tied up with the UAE sheikh and Cambridge Analytica? Robert Mercer? Who was tied up with funding of Fusion GPS and the trash on Donald Trump? Paul Singer?
○ Brexit's big short: how hedge funds cashed in on exit polls | The National UAE |
○ Nigel Farage denies shorting value of sterling on night of Brexit vote | The Guardian |
