Hedge-fund ‘loser’ pushing crypto TV
In a bid to reverse a decadelong slide from being a billionaire to pleading that he’s broke, Phil Falcone is angling to profit from TV coverage of crypto assets.
The fallen hedge fund star, who amassed a $2 billion fortune from shorting the housing market before squandering the riches over the past 10 years, is actively pitching investors on something called Blockchain.TV, The Post has learned.
According to people familiar with Falcone’s pitch, the Minnesota native believes the world needs a 24-hour network exclusively devoted to covering cryptocurrencies, NFTs and Web3 — and he wants to be the one to make it happen.
The Harvard-educated moneyman has been forced in recent years to sell everything from the fancy furnishings at his Upper East Side townhouse to artwork and even his Hamptons estate to pay off his roughly $100 million debt.
Falcone, 59, is being sued by New York state for $12 million in back taxes, and told a judge — while representing himself — that he was so strapped for cash he couldn’t pay his mortgages, his daughters’ tuition or even an attorney.
He also owes Melody Business Finance $74 million after the company lent him money to buy properties.
For his latest gamble, Falcone enlisted Charlie Walk, the former music executive who was ousted from his perch at Republic Records in 2018, with helping him pitch the idea and bring in investors since January, people with direct knowledge say.
However, he has yet to raise the necessary funds to launch the platform. He’s been vague on the details of how much he is looking to raise and how much he has raised, sources told The Post.
In a comment to The Post, Falcone said there was a “quiet period” and he was not able to discuss the network. Typically, a quiet period happens before a company goes public, but Falcone said there was no plan to do so.
When The Post reached out to Walk for comment, he merely said, “Can we help you?”
Falcone is suing private equity giant Apollo for $2 billion, claiming the firm defrauded him by getting him to invest in now-defunct telecommunications company LightSquared Inc.