According to this statement, Olam International has taken legal action against Muddy Waters and its founder Carson Block. It looks like things are starting to escalate.
On one hand I am very much in favour for freedom of speech (which is anyhow much too low in Asia) and until now, I haven't read anything serious by Muddy Waters yet. But I don't know what exactly has been said on the Sohn London Investment Conference in London, details of the allegations have not been forthcoming. So I would be interested what exactly the case is about.
Olam's reaction so far looks rather extreme, as pointed out by Muddy Waters. A solid blue chip should just shrug its shoulders and move on, producing steady quarterly profits, it should not be bothered by criticism.
On the other hand, I am also not much of a fan of companies like Muddy Waters: first shorting a certain stock and then releasing negative information about the company.
But first buying a stock and then releasing positive information is basically the same, and that is happening all the time.
Court cases are always good for outsiders to get a glimpse of what is really going on, so I would be quite interested to read further about the on goings of this case. But because of the court case, Muddy Waters might not reveal more information and keep its bullets dry.
Channel News Asia's story about the events.
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