Steve Eisman is a money manager famous for shorting securitized subprime home mortgages. Eisman currently works for FrontPoint Partners, a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley.
As of January 2011, Eisman is considering leaving FrontPoint. Eisman reportedly queried potential clients about managing money for them if he leaves FrontPoint. When asked about his plans for the future, Eisman answered, "At this point in my career, I want to have more control over my destiny."[1]
Eisman is a strong opponent of for-profit institutions of higher education. During a speech entitled "Subprime Goes to College" during the Ira Sohn Conference in May 2010 Eisman attacked companies that run private colleges such as Think ITT Educational Services, Corinthian Colleges, and Education Management Corporation.[2] Eisman likened such companies to seamy mortgage brokers. He said, "Until recently, I thought that there would never again be an opportunity to be involved with an industry as socially destructive and morally bankrupt as the subprime mortgage industry. I was wrong."[3]
After the Department of Education took action against for-profit colleges in 2010 the industry retaliated by accusing Eisman of attempting to illegally influence the government and calling for an investigation by the Secretary of Education. 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. Shireman was in charge of the department's efforts to toughen regulations on for-profit colleges.[4]
After offering testimony to Senate Health, Education and Labor Committee on problems with for-profit higher education, Eisman was strongly criticized by progressive groups such as Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington on the grounds that he stood to profit from proposed regulations due to his short positions against private colleges.[5]