Take The Red Pill People!

CNBC Talking Head And Tesla Mega-Bull, Ross Gerber Received PPP Loan Days After He Called Program “Another Trump Scam”

July 6, 2020
Tyler Durden

CNBC Talking Head And Tesla Mega-Bull, Ross Gerber Received PPP Loan Days After He Called Program “Another Trump Scam”

Tyler Durden

Mon, 07/06/2020 – 19:52

As we pointed out on Twitter earlier today, Tesla’s favorite uber-bull and useful FinTwit punching bag Ross Gerber’s firm, the Santa Monica-based Gerber Kawasaki (not to be confused with a motorbike dealer, although perhaps it would hope to be) Wealth Management, was approved for a PPP loan on May 3, 2020.  

The disclosure comes as part of a broader disclosure of firms who took PPP loans and confirms that Gerber’s firm took a loan ranging from $350,000 to $1 million through Wells Fargo Bank. While PPP loans were given out in exchange for “retaining jobs”, in the case of Gerber Kawasaki that particular number is unknown as the excel cell is empty.

The irony, of course, comes from the fact that on April 27, 2020, just 6 short days before his firm’s loan was approved, Gerber virtue signalled to the #resistance by tweeting that “this whole PPP thing looks like a scam. Another big Trump scam”.

… A scam which Ross Gerber had applied for weeks prior and was eagerly waiting approval.

Then, during the same thread about “another Trump scam”, when Gerber was called out for having Trump derangement syndrome, he doubled down and said “you can correlate PPP loans and Trump supporters” before suggesting “they should publish the list of companies and amounts.”

 

Well, Ross, we hate to tell you this… but they did. And your firm is on it as receiving up to $1 million in PPP grants.

It gets better. The NAICS code of “441228” which Gerber Kawasaki applied under indicates that the “investment advisory” company got the loan under the guise of being a “Motorcycle, ATV and Other Motor Vehicle Dealer”! Perhaps Gerber was hoping that someone at the Small Business Administration was dumb enough and would assume that a company named “Kawasaki” deal with, well, motorobikes. Because after all which financial advisor would like to be exposed as need bailout money to continue offering paid “advise” on what happens next.

This motorcycle/ATV PPP rescue grant – which the company should have applied for only if it meant the difference between life and death – follows not only Gerber’s constant boasting on Twitter about being long Tesla, which has more than tripled off of its recent lows, but constant bragging by Gerber on social media about how well his firm is doing and how rich he is. In fact, just days ago, he said he was taking a “victory lap” on Tesla…

…he was also publishing text allegedly from one of his client’s statements, also bragging about Tesla:

Even better, a little over a year ago, Gerber was bragging about his wealth:

…after bragging in 2017 that his firm was taking in $3 million per week.

Then, at the beginning of 2020 posting influencer-style photos of himself drinking what he called “Crystal”:

…which he has been bragging about (and spelling wrong) for years….

The PPP loan disclosure caused an uproar on social media, with some also pointing out that Gerber Kawasaki’s Form ADV filings may not have been updated to reveal the loan. Even Dave Portnoy of Barstool Spots, with whom Gerber had a kerfuffle with several weeks ago, chimed in:

“Absolute dickhead looking motherfucker,” Portnoy had called Gerber in a live video in late May after Gerber suggested Portnoy’s wealth was because he was “lucky”.

“If you’re so good at this, why you helping strangers? Because you’re not. You need other people’s money, you coward,” Portnoy said in late May, in what is turning out to be an extremely prescient observation.

“Ross Gerber’s the worst to ever do it,” Portnoy concluded. 

Gerber responded by saying he was up $10 million on the day and calling Portnoy out for bragging, which is beyond ironic given Gerber’s history of bragging himself.

But then again, we didn’t see Barstool Sports on the PPP recipient list. So there’s one thing Portnoy can brag about that Gerber will never again mention.