Steven Eisman (/ˈaɪsmən/ EYE-smən; born July 8, 1962) is an American businessman and investor known for having shorted collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), thereby profiting from the collapse of the US housing bubble in 2007–2008.
[2][3] Eisman rose to fame betting against collateralized debt obligations at Greenwich, Connecticut-based FrontPoint Partners LLC, a unit of Morgan Stanley.
By 2010, he managed more than $1 billion for FrontPoint, and gained prominence after being profiled by Michael Lewis in his book The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine.
In the movie adaptation of Lewis' book, The Big Short, Eisman's name was changed to Mark Baum, and he was portrayed by actor Steve Carell.
[13]After the Department of Education took action to strengthen a variety of consumer protection regulations in 2009-10,[14] the for-profit industry retaliated by accusing Eisman of attempting to illegally influence the government and calling for an investigation.
The allegations stem from a meeting that Eisman had with Department of Education officials David Bergeron and Robert Shireman, two weeks before delivering his speech at the Ira Sohn Conference.
[15][11] The agency’s Inspector General, after a review, concluded there was “no improper disclosure of sensitive information by Department officials in their communications with outside parties.”[16] After offering testimony to Senate Health, Education and Labor Committee on problems with for-profit higher education, Eisman was criticized by progressive groups such as Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) on the grounds that he stood to profit from proposed regulations due to his short positions against private colleges.
[3] In late 2023, during the Israel–Hamas war, Eisman responded to pro-Palestinian protests at his alma mater by demanding that his family name be removed from a scholarship, and stated to CNBC that any student who "holds up a sign that says 'free Palestine from the river to the sea' should be expelled" from the University of Pennsylvania.
[21] On 20 September 2024, Eisman responded to a video on X showing burning tents of displaced Gazans after an Israeli airstrike, which was captioned "Screams of Palestinians being burnt alive.