A 24-year-old "AI Jesus" hedge fund manager lost 78% of his $45B fund in 6 days because he was secretly 5x leveraged — and South Korea's retail crash shows the same story is just beginning in America.
Aug 7, 202617:02 Difficulty: Intermediate Played
The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway
The Week: How Leverage Broke the AI Trade
A 24-year-old "AI Jesus" hedge fund manager lost 78% of his $45B fund in 6 days because he was secretly 5x leveraged — and South Korea's retail crash shows the same story is just beginning in America.
Aug 7, 202617:02 Difficulty: Intermediate Played
TL;DR
George Hahn connects three stories from the week: the collapse of Leopold Aschenbrenner's AI hedge fund Situational Awareness after 5x leverage triggered margin calls[1]— Jim Chanos"AI infrastructure spending gets capitalized and depreciated over 5–10 years rather than immediately expensed. The result: the same dollar a…"02:55, South Korea's catastrophic 44% market crash driven by retail investors piling into single-stock leveraged ETFs[2]— George Hahn"South Korea's stock market fell 44% from its June highs, erasing $2 trillion in value. The culprit: single-stock leveraged ETFs tracking Sa…"05:31, and Sam Harris's argument that happiness can't be "become" — only experienced in the present moment[3]— Sam Harris"Smartphones have eliminated boredom entirely — and that's a psychological problem. Boredom was once the gateway through which people discov…"14:36. The throughline is leverage in all its forms: financial, psychological, and temporal. The single most useful takeaway: leverage doesn't create risk — it removes your margin for being wrong.
George Hahn breaks down the week's biggest stories: the leverage-driven collapse of AI hedge fund Situational Awareness, South Korea's 44% market crash caused by retail single-stock leveraged ETFs, and Sam Harris's insights on attention, boredom, and the pursuit of happiness.
Chapter list
Before the episode proper gets underway, two sibling podcasts in the Vox Media network get their moment. Explain It to Me trails a coming episode on the wellness industrial complex — powders, pills, cold plunges, and the question of what 'being well' actually costs us. Then Net Worth and Chill, hosted by Vivian ('your HBF and your favorite Wall Street girly'), previews a conversation with Zillow's home trends expert Amanda Pendleton on when renting actually beats buying, what hidden costs buyers forget, and how to navigate homeownership without a 20% down payment. Both promos frame consumer decisions in terms of their true cost — a thread that will run through the episode itself.
George Hahn introduces himself and the episode's three-part structure with characteristic economy: a hedge fund just blew up, South Korea's stock market plunged 44%, and the AI trade has found its floor; a generation locked out of financial security is taking bigger risks to get ahead; and Sam Harris has something clarifying to say about where we actually direct our attention. The brevity of this opening belies the richness of what follows — all three threads are connected by a single idea about leverage and the cost of deferring the present for a better future.
George Hahn sets up the week's central business story by reaching back to Friday's Prof G Markets interview with Jim Chanos — the legendary short seller who predicted Enron's collapse and now teaches the history of financial fraud. Chanos delivers two sharp insights. First: fraud always follows the financial cycle with a lag, and the longer the boom, the larger the eventual reckoning. He's already named this era the Golden Age of Fraud, and he notes that enforcement is inherently political — nobody prosecutes fraud at all-time highs; they only come after investors have lost money[1]— Jim Chanos"Jim Chanos argues that fraud always follows the financial cycle with a lag — and the longer the boom, the bigger the eventual reckoning. He…"02:00. Second: the AI boom has a structural accounting problem that mirrors the dot-com era. Companies spending on AI infrastructure capitalize and depreciate that spending over 5–10 years rather than expensing it immediately, while companies receiving that money — Nvidia, utilities, Caterpillar — book it as revenue and profit right away. The result is that the same dollar appears to inflate profits far more than it would in a normal economy, which is why S&P 500 earnings have surged over the past two years. The boom looks healthy on paper; the accounting is doing the work.
This is the week's most dramatic story, and George Hahn tells it with precision. Leopold Aschenbrenner is 24 years old. His fund, Situational Awareness, was up 439% for the first half of 2026 and had swelled to roughly $45 billion[1]— George Hahn"Situational Awareness, the AI hedge fund run by 24-year-old Leopold Aschenbrenner, was up 439% for the first half of 2026 and had swelled t…"03:59. He told investors the sell-off represented an unusually attractive opportunity. Six days later, after mounting losses and margin calls, the fund sold most of its public stock portfolio to Ken Griffin's Citadel in a fire sale — leaving it with around $10 billion. Ed provides the colour: online, Aschenbrenner was 'AI Jesus' — hailed as the savant of his generation, a man who could predict the AI future. But he was secretly 5x leveraged into the hottest momentum trades in the world. When the position moved against him, there was no margin for error. The fund's Anthropic stake was also reportedly being sold. The moral is blunt: it looked like genius until it was revealed as leverage.
If Aschenbrenner's story was the institutional version of the leverage disaster, South Korea is the retail version — and it's bigger, messier, and more human in its consequences. In May, exchanges launched single-stock leveraged ETFs tracking Samsung and SK Hynix at 2x, 3x, and 5x multiples[1]— George Hahn"South Korea's stock market fell 44% from its June highs, erasing $2 trillion in value. The culprit: single-stock leveraged ETFs tracking Sa…"05:31. By August, the market had fallen 44% from its June highs, and $2 trillion in value had evaporated. The numbers Scott Galloway and Ed cite are staggering: 92% of investors in these products were retail, not institutional. There were two brokerage accounts for every citizen in South Korea. Goldman Sachs estimated that 3.4% of the entire adult population had received a margin call. The human consequences were immediate: South Korea rolled out a debt counseling hotline as part of its national suicide prevention program, and funeral wreaths appeared on the sidewalk outside the National Assembly with a sign reading 'Abolish the single-stock leveraged ETF.' According to Korean stock market regulators, 70% of investors in Samsung and SK Hynix leveraged products are currently underwater. The regulatory response is to stop new listings of these products — but Ed notes that US leveraged ETFs have already grown from $120 billion to $200 billion in AUM since April, with more than half now being single-stock products. America, he warns, is following the same path, perhaps just a few months behind. The episode s for its commercial break, featuring three sponsors whose products are framed around financial value and quality. Odoo presents itself as the antidote to the proliferation of disconnected business software — a single platform replacing the 'five apps, twelve browser tabs, and one spreadsheet everyone's afraid to touch' that many small businesses run on, with a free trial at odoo.com/profg. Chime leads on fee-free banking: no overdraft fees, no monthly fees, no minimum balance requirements, 5% cashback on everyday spending, a savings rate nine times the national average, and SpotMe overdraft protection up to $200. Sign-up is at chime.com/profg. Finally, Quince positions itself as affordable luxury: premium organic cotton, Mongolian cashmere, and tailored chinos from $60, with a personal endorsement from Claire, who calls the tank tops a summer staple. The Quince app offers exclusive offers, free shipping, and 365-day returns at quince.com/profg.
The obvious question about South Korea is why anyone wanted these products in the first place. Ed's answer is sociological rather than financial, and it's the episode's most provocative segment[1]— Ed"South Korea's leveraged ETF disaster isn't just a financial story — it's a social one. A 40% decline in marriage rates, a 0.8 fertility rat…"12:37. South Korea has few peers in the severity of its social collapse: marriage rates have fallen 40% over the past decade, the fertility rate hit 0.8 last year (the only OECD nation below 1), and local governments are now paying citizens to get married. Ed argues this isn't a coincidence — a society experiencing that level of loneliness and demographic decline produces young people who feel locked out of conventional paths to security. The result is financial nihilism: a pervasive belief that the normal routes — career, savings, homeownership — aren't available, and that only a leveraged bet on the right stock can bridge the gap. He explicitly links South Korea's situation to emerging trends in America and calls South Korea 'ground zero for the problems we're about to see.' The episode is careful not to moralize — this is a diagnosis, not a verdict.
The final act of the episode shifts register entirely — from markets to mind. Sam Harris appeared on Conversations with Scott Galloway, and George Hahn excerpts two key moments. The first is Harris's argument about boredom and smartphones: the phone in your pocket has eliminated the possibility of boredom, but boredom was once the entry point through which people discovered the restlessness of their own minds and, eventually, how to settle it. On a meditation retreat, with no reading, writing, or conversation, boredom evaporates — because boredom was never real; it was just an inability to pay attention[1]— Sam Harris"On a meditation retreat, you sit in silence with no stimulation and discover something unexpected: boredom disappears. That's because bored…"16:00. The second is Harris's central claim about happiness: most people spend their lives believing happiness is a destination, something to be achieved once enough pieces — accolades, possessions, the right story — are finally in place. But this is a mirage. The structure of our psychology makes it so that you can't become happy; you can only be happy, right now, by developing the capacity for presence[2]— Sam Harris"Most people spend their lives believing happiness is a destination — the product of enough achievements, accolades, and possessions. Sam Ha…"17:10. George Hahn closes the episode by drawing the connection explicitly: the markets offer their own version of this mirage — one more trade, one more rally, one extraordinary return that will finally make everything feel secure. But leverage can't guarantee a better future. And obsessing over the future can cost us the life happening now.
Leverage
Borrowing money to amplify the size of an investment position; magnifies both gains and losses, and can trigger forced liquidation (a margin call) if losses exceed collateral.
Margin call
A broker's demand that an investor deposit more funds or sell assets to cover losses when the value of a leveraged position falls below a required threshold.
Single-stock leveraged ETF
An exchange-traded fund that uses derivatives to multiply (2x, 3x, or 5x) the daily price movement of a single stock, amplifying both gains and losses for retail investors.
CapEx (Capital Expenditure) Money a company spends on physical assets or infrastructure; in accounting, large CapEx is often capitalized (spread as depreciation over many years) rather than immediately expensed.
Capitalized (accounting) The practice of recording a large expenditure as an asset on the balance sheet and depreciating it over time, rather than recognizing it as an immediate expense on the income statement.
Short seller
An investor who profits by borrowing and selling a stock they believe will fall in price, then buying it back cheaper to return it; Jim Chanos is a famous practitioner.
AUM (Assets Under Management) The total market value of all financial assets that an investment manager or fund oversees on behalf of clients.
Fire sale
A forced, rapid sale of assets at a steep discount, typically because the seller faces urgent financial pressure such as margin calls.
Financial nihilism
The belief among young people that conventional paths to financial security (career, savings, property) are unavailable or pointless, leading them to take extreme financial risks instead.
OECD
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development — a group of 38 wealthy democracies that collaborate on economic policy; used here as a benchmark for comparing fertility rates.
Fraud cycle
Jim Chanos's concept that corporate fraud is most prevalent during financial booms but only discovered during downturns, always lagging the broader financial cycle.
Mirage (Harris's use) Sam Harris uses 'mirage' to describe the belief that happiness is a future state achievable through accumulation — something that always appears attainable but recedes as you approach it.
Present-moment awareness
A meditative capacity to experience the current moment fully rather than being mentally absorbed in past regrets or future ambitions; central to Sam Harris's argument about happiness.
Pervasive
Spreading through every part of something; used by Ed to describe how financial nihilism has spread throughout South Korean (and increasingly American) youth culture.
Chapter 3 · 02:00
Jim Chanos: The Golden Age of Fraud and AI's Accounting Problem
George Hahn sets up the week's central business story by reaching back to Friday's Prof G Markets interview with Jim Chanos — the legendary short seller who predicted Enron's collapse and now teaches the history of financial fraud. Chanos delivers two sharp insights. First: fraud always follows the financial cycle with a lag, and the longer the boom, the larger the eventual reckoning. He's already named this era the Golden Age of Fraud, and he notes that enforcement is inherently political — nobody prosecutes fraud at all-time highs; they only come after investors have lost money[1]— Jim Chanos"Jim Chanos argues that fraud always follows the financial cycle with a lag — and the longer the boom, the bigger the eventual reckoning. He…"02:00. Second: the AI boom has a structural accounting problem that mirrors the dot-com era. Companies spending on AI infrastructure capitalize and depreciate that spending over 5–10 years rather than expensing it immediately, while companies receiving that money — Nvidia, utilities, Caterpillar — book it as revenue and profit right away. The result is that the same dollar appears to inflate profits far more than it would in a normal economy, which is why S&P 500 earnings have surged over the past two years. The boom looks healthy on paper; the accounting is doing the work.
Jim Chanos argues that fraud always follows the financial cycle with a lag — and the longer the boom, the bigger the eventual reckoning. He's already named this era the Golden Age of Fraud, and says nobody prosecutes fraud at all-time highs because enforcement is political.
AI infrastructure spending gets capitalized and depreciated over 5–10 years rather than immediately expensed. The result: the same dollar appears as profit for Nvidia and utilities while the cost is deferred for AI buyers — artificially inflating S&P 500 earnings in a way that mirrors the dot-com era.
Jim Chanos explained that companies spending on AI infrastructure don't immediately expense most of that capital — it's capitalized and depreciated over 5–10 years, inflating apparent S&P profits.
Situational Awareness, the AI hedge fund run by 24-year-old Leopold Aschenbrenner, was up 439% for the first half of 2026 and had swelled to $45 billion. Then a 5x leverage position triggered margin calls, and the fund was forced to liquidate its entire public equity portfolio in a fire sale to Citadel — leaving it with $10 billion.
Leopold Aschenbrenner's AI hedge fund Situational Awareness was up 439% for the first half of 2026, swelling to roughly $45 billion before collapsing.
Chapter 4 · 04:05
The Collapse of Situational Awareness: AI Jesus Falls to Earth
This is the week's most dramatic story, and George Hahn tells it with precision. Leopold Aschenbrenner is 24 years old. His fund, Situational Awareness, was up 439% for the first half of 2026 and had swelled to roughly $45 billion[1]— George Hahn"Situational Awareness, the AI hedge fund run by 24-year-old Leopold Aschenbrenner, was up 439% for the first half of 2026 and had swelled t…"03:59. He told investors the sell-off represented an unusually attractive opportunity. Six days later, after mounting losses and margin calls, the fund sold most of its public stock portfolio to Ken Griffin's Citadel in a fire sale — leaving it with around $10 billion. Ed provides the colour: online, Aschenbrenner was 'AI Jesus' — hailed as the savant of his generation, a man who could predict the AI future. But he was secretly 5x leveraged into the hottest momentum trades in the world. When the position moved against him, there was no margin for error. The fund's Anthropic stake was also reportedly being sold. The moral is blunt: it looked like genius until it was revealed as leverage.
Situational Awareness fund manager Leopold Aschenbrenner was revealed to be 5x leveraged, which triggered margin calls and forced liquidation of his entire public equity portfolio.
South Korea's stock market fell 44% from its June highs, erasing $2 trillion in value. The culprit: single-stock leveraged ETFs tracking Samsung and SK Hynix at 2–5x multiples launched in May. Ninety-two percent of investors were retail. Goldman estimated 3.4% of the entire adult population received a margin call.
South Korea's stock market fell 44% from its June highs, wiping out $2 trillion in value, driven by retail investors in single-stock leveraged ETFs.
Chapter 5 · 05:35
South Korea: $2 Trillion Wiped Out by Retail Leverage
If Aschenbrenner's story was the institutional version of the leverage disaster, South Korea is the retail version — and it's bigger, messier, and more human in its consequences. In May, exchanges launched single-stock leveraged ETFs tracking Samsung and SK Hynix at 2x, 3x, and 5x multiples[1]— George Hahn"South Korea's stock market fell 44% from its June highs, erasing $2 trillion in value. The culprit: single-stock leveraged ETFs tracking Sa…"05:31. By August, the market had fallen 44% from its June highs, and $2 trillion in value had evaporated. The numbers Scott Galloway and Ed cite are staggering: 92% of investors in these products were retail, not institutional. There were two brokerage accounts for every citizen in South Korea. Goldman Sachs estimated that 3.4% of the entire adult population had received a margin call. The human consequences were immediate: South Korea rolled out a debt counseling hotline as part of its national suicide prevention program, and funeral wreaths appeared on the sidewalk outside the National Assembly with a sign reading 'Abolish the single-stock leveraged ETF.' According to Korean stock market regulators, 70% of investors in Samsung and SK Hynix leveraged products are currently underwater. The regulatory response is to stop new listings of these products — but Ed notes that US leveraged ETFs have already grown from $120 billion to $200 billion in AUM since April, with more than half now being single-stock products. America, he warns, is following the same path, perhaps just a few months behind. Goldman Sachs estimated that 3.4% of South Korea's adult population received a margin call, prompting the government to launch a debt counseling hotline as part of its suicide prevention plan.
In South Korea's single-stock leveraged ETF products, 92% of investors were retail — meaning the risk was almost entirely borne by households, not institutions.
Outside South Korea's National Assembly, protesters have stacked funeral wreaths on the sidewalk demanding an end to single-stock leveraged ETFs. Seventy percent of investors in Samsung and SK Hynix leveraged products are in the red. South Korea has rolled out a debt counseling hotline as part of its national suicide prevention program.
US leveraged ETFs grew from $120 billion to over $200 billion in AUM between April and August 2026 — nearly 70% growth in a few months. More than half are single-stock ETFs, the exact product that destroyed South Korea. The US may just be a few months behind.
US leveraged ETFs grew from $120 billion to over $200 billion in AUM between April and August 2026, up nearly 70%, with more than half being single-stock ETFs.
Chapter 6 · 09:15
Sponsor Break: Odoo, Chime, and Quince
The episode s for its commercial break, featuring three sponsors whose products are framed around financial value and quality. Odoo presents itself as the antidote to the proliferation of disconnected business software — a single platform replacing the 'five apps, twelve browser tabs, and one spreadsheet everyone's afraid to touch' that many small businesses run on, with a free trial at odoo.com/profg. Chime leads on fee-free banking: no overdraft fees, no monthly fees, no minimum balance requirements, 5% cashback on everyday spending, a savings rate nine times the national average, and SpotMe overdraft protection up to $200. Sign-up is at chime.com/profg. Finally, Quince positions itself as affordable luxury: premium organic cotton, Mongolian cashmere, and tailored chinos from $60, with a personal endorsement from Claire, who calls the tank tops a summer staple. The Quince app offers exclusive offers, free shipping, and 365-day returns at quince.com/profg.
South Korea's leveraged ETF disaster isn't just a financial story — it's a social one. A 40% decline in marriage rates, a 0.8 fertility rate, and a pervasive loneliness crisis have produced a generation of young people with no long-term stake in the future. Financial nihilism — the belief that only a lottery-ticket bet can deliver security — is the inevitable result.
12:37
14:18
Chapter 7 · 12:40
Financial Nihilism: Why Young People Are Gambling with Leverage
The obvious question about South Korea is why anyone wanted these products in the first place. Ed's answer is sociological rather than financial, and it's the episode's most provocative segment[1]— Ed"South Korea's leveraged ETF disaster isn't just a financial story — it's a social one. A 40% decline in marriage rates, a 0.8 fertility rat…"12:37. South Korea has few peers in the severity of its social collapse: marriage rates have fallen 40% over the past decade, the fertility rate hit 0.8 last year (the only OECD nation below 1), and local governments are now paying citizens to get married. Ed argues this isn't a coincidence — a society experiencing that level of loneliness and demographic decline produces young people who feel locked out of conventional paths to security. The result is financial nihilism: a pervasive belief that the normal routes — career, savings, homeownership — aren't available, and that only a leveraged bet on the right stock can bridge the gap. He explicitly links South Korea's situation to emerging trends in America and calls South Korea 'ground zero for the problems we're about to see.' The episode is careful not to moralize — this is a diagnosis, not a verdict.
South Korea's marriage rates have declined 40% over the past decade, a demographic collapse that Ed linked to financial desperation and leveraged speculation among young people.
South Korea's fertility rate hit 0.8, making it the only OECD nation with a fertility rate below 1, a sign of severe demographic and social crisis linked to financial nihilism.
Sam Harris on Attention, Boredom, and the Happiness Mirage
The final act of the episode shifts register entirely — from markets to mind. Sam Harris appeared on Conversations with Scott Galloway, and George Hahn excerpts two key moments. The first is Harris's argument about boredom and smartphones: the phone in your pocket has eliminated the possibility of boredom, but boredom was once the entry point through which people discovered the restlessness of their own minds and, eventually, how to settle it. On a meditation retreat, with no reading, writing, or conversation, boredom evaporates — because boredom was never real; it was just an inability to pay attention[1]— Sam Harris"On a meditation retreat, you sit in silence with no stimulation and discover something unexpected: boredom disappears. That's because bored…"16:00. The second is Harris's central claim about happiness: most people spend their lives believing happiness is a destination, something to be achieved once enough pieces — accolades, possessions, the right story — are finally in place. But this is a mirage. The structure of our psychology makes it so that you can't become happy; you can only be happy, right now, by developing the capacity for presence[2]— Sam Harris"Most people spend their lives believing happiness is a destination — the product of enough achievements, accolades, and possessions. Sam Ha…"17:10. George Hahn closes the episode by drawing the connection explicitly: the markets offer their own version of this mirage — one more trade, one more rally, one extraordinary return that will finally make everything feel secure. But leverage can't guarantee a better future. And obsessing over the future can cost us the life happening now.
Smartphones have eliminated boredom entirely — and that's a psychological problem. Boredom was once the gateway through which people discovered the discomfort of an unquiet mind and, eventually, how to settle it. Without the discomfort, there's no discovery. The capacity for presence is atrophying.
Sam Harris argued that boredom is not a real state — it's simply the inability to pay attention, and smartphones have eliminated the conditions that once allowed people to discover this.
On a meditation retreat, you sit in silence with no stimulation and discover something unexpected: boredom disappears. That's because boredom was never real — it was just a failure of attention. The moment you learn to actually pay attention to present-moment experience, the illusion of boredom collapses.
Most people spend their lives believing happiness is a destination — the product of enough achievements, accolades, and possessions. Sam Harris says this is the central psychological error of human existence. Happiness is not a future state to be earned. It's a present capacity to be developed. The rest is a mirage.
Sam Harris's central insight: happiness is not a destination to be achieved through accumulation of accolades and possessions — it can only be experienced in the present moment.
Situational Awareness, the AI hedge fund run by 24-year-old Leopold Aschenbrenner, was up 439% for the first half of 2026 and had swelled to $45 billion. Then a 5x leverage position triggered margin calls, and the fund was forced to liquidate its entire public equity portfolio in a fire sale to Citadel — leaving it with $10 billion.
Most people spend their lives believing happiness is a destination — the product of enough achievements, accolades, and possessions. Sam Harris says this is the central psychological error of human existence. Happiness is not a future state to be earned. It's a present capacity to be developed. The rest is a mirage.
17:10
17:58
Snapshots ()
Key Quotes ()
This episode
Claims & Sources
2 / 14 cited (14%) Factual claims made this episode, and whether a source was named.
⚠
Leopold Aschenbrenner's fund Situational Awareness was up 439% for the first half of 2026 and had grown to roughly $45 billion in assets.
George Hahnno source cited
⚠
Situational Awareness was 5x leveraged, which triggered margin calls and forced liquidation of its entire public equity portfolio.
Edno source cited
⚠
After the forced liquidation, Situational Awareness sold most of its public stock portfolio to Citadel in a fire sale and was left managing roughly $10 billion.
George Hahnno source cited
⚠
South Korea's stock market fell 44% from its June highs, wiping out $2 trillion in value.
George Hahnno source cited
⚠
92% of investors in South Korea's single-stock leveraged ETF products were retail investors.
Scott Gallowayno source cited
✓
Goldman Sachs estimated that 3.4% of South Korea's adult population received a margin call following the leveraged ETF crash.
Scott GallowayGoldman Sachs
⚠
South Korea launched a debt counseling hotline as part of its national suicide prevention plan following the leveraged ETF crash.
Scott Gallowayno source cited
✓
Approximately 70% of investors in SK Hynix and Samsung leveraged ETFs are currently in the red, according to Korean stock market regulators.
EdKorean stock market regulators
⚠
US leveraged ETF assets under management grew from $120 billion in April 2026 to more than $200 billion by August 2026, up nearly 70%.
Edno source cited
⚠
More than half of US leveraged ETFs are now single-stock ETFs, and the number of US leveraged ETFs has more than doubled since 2025.
Edno source cited
⚠
South Korea's marriage rates have declined 40% in the past decade.
Edno source cited
⚠
South Korea's fertility rate hit 0.8, making it the only OECD nation with a fertility rate below 1.
Edno source cited
⚠
AI infrastructure capital expenditure is capitalized and depreciated over 5–10 years rather than immediately expensed, causing an accounting mismatch that inflates S&P 500 profits.
Jim Chanosno source cited
⚠
There were 2 brokerage accounts for every citizen in South Korea at the height of the leveraged ETF boom.
Scott Gallowayno source cited
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Legendary short seller who called Enron's collapse and appeared on Prof G Markets to warn about the current Golden Age of Fraud and AI CapEx accounting distortions.
24-year-old founder of Situational Awareness fund, whose 439% returns and subsequent collapse due to 5x leverage is the episode's central business story.
Author and podcast host who appeared on Conversations with Scott Galloway discussing attention, the illusion of boredom, and why happiness cannot be achieved through accumulation.
Founder of Citadel, which acquired Situational Awareness's public stock portfolio at a fire-sale price after the fund's leverage-driven collapse.
Leopold Aschenbrenner's AI hedge fund, which grew to $45B before being forced to liquidate its public equity portfolio after 5x leverage triggered margin calls.
One of two Korean stocks underlying the single-stock leveraged ETFs that triggered South Korea's 44% market crash, with 70% of leveraged investors in the red.
One of two Korean stocks underlying the single-stock leveraged ETFs that triggered South Korea's market crash, with 70% of leveraged ETF investors currently underwater.
Ken Griffin's hedge fund that purchased Situational Awareness's public equity portfolio in a fire sale after the fund's leveraged position collapsed.
The infamous corporate fraud that Jim Chanos correctly predicted, used as the benchmark for his credibility when warning about the current Golden Age of Fraud.
Used by Jim Chanos as an example of companies receiving AI CapEx spending as immediate revenue and profit, while the spenders defer costs — inflating apparent S&P earnings.
AI startup in which Situational Awareness reportedly held a stake that was also being sold as part of the fund's forced liquidation.
Sibling podcast to The Prof G Pod where Scott Galloway and Ed discuss markets; clips from Monday's and Friday's episodes are featured in this week's recap.
Central case study in the episode: a 44% stock market crash driven by retail-dominated single-stock leveraged ETFs, linked to a broader loneliness and demographic crisis.
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