Fairfax (FFH) accuses short-sellers of nefarious plot

This one of those stories too juicy not to do a post on. An exclusive piece from Bloomberg discusses Fairfax Financial Holdings' (NYSE: FFH) allegations of a vast conspiracy of short-selling hedge funds determined to bring the company down. The company sued eight hedge funds for racketeering in 2006, and has alleged that a group of well-known short sellers -- James Chanos, Steven Cohen, Daniel Loeb, David Rocker, and Adam Sender -- have gone so far as to send an anonymous letter to a minister at a church attended by a member of Fairfax's management, asking him to make sure that executive Prem Watsa makes a "full confession".

Fairfax has done its best Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK) impersonation in more ways than one. In addition to conspiracy theories, we also have accounting scandals and fundamentals concerns. In June 2005, Fairfax disclosed that the SEC had requested information on the company's use of reinsurance products. As of early August, the investigation was still ongoing.

Allegations flying back and forth also include Harry Potter and sadomasochistic orgies. You couldn't make this stuff up. This should be a pretty exciting story to follow.