‘Mooch’ ado in Las Vegas
LAS VEGAS — Anthony Scaramucci opened up the SkyBridge Alternatives (SALT) Conference by discussing — but not answering — the question on everyone’s mind: So what’s up with that White House gig?
“I didn’t expect to be here, to be honest,” Scaramucci — known as “The Mooch” — said to the crowd here on Wednesday.
Scaramucci, an early backer of Gov. Jeb Bush who then served as adviser to candidate Trump, was poised to take a senior position in the new administration.
The job seemed such a sure thing that just weeks before Inauguration Day, Trump announced his intention to install The Mooch as his new director for the White House Office of Public Liaison and Intergovernmental Affairs.
Scaramucci, 53, then set out to sell his hedge fund of funds, SkyBridge Capital, which also sponsors SALT.
While the sale went through, the job never did.
But rather than spend time going over what he called the “he said/she said” about why he’s not at the White House, Scaramucci insisted he was still “ready to serve” the president.
“You have to dust yourself off in life and move on,” he said.
While Scaramucci reflected on the past, the conference took a futuristic turn later in the day.
Attendees arrived at a lunch session expecting to rub shoulders with Doubleline Capital’s Jeffrey Gundlach but were surprised when they were instead greeted by his hologram.
Gundlach, who is also known as the “Bond King,” runs Doubleline from LA and had a scheduling conflict. In true Hollywood fashion, the moneyman was beamed up live from a studio as his hologram walked around the Las Vegas stage.
Amid the sharp market selloff, Gundlach used his time to criticize passive investing and praise investments overseas.
“Non-US investing is already starting to win. Time to ride that train,” Gundlach said.