Forensic Account Anthony Scilipoti: The Bubble No One is Talking About

The Knowledge Project

Shane Parrish

Business, Society & Culture, Technology, Education, Self-improvement, Investing, Entrepreneurship

4.7 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 28 October 2025

⏱️ 94 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Anthony Scilipoti is one of the sharpest minds in investing. He's the President and CEO of Veritas Group of Companies. He called the collapses of both Valeant Pharmaceuticals and Nortel before they happened, and now he has some thoughts on AI. We talk about asking better questions, reading the fine print, the role of short selling, and what it means to be wrong. We explore why AI gives you information but not insight, why cheap risk is often the most expensive, and why nothing matters until it does. It's a conversation about the difference between seeing and understanding and the discipline to notice what everyone else ignores. This episode is not investment advice. It’s time to listen and learn. ----- About Anthony Anthony Scilipoti is one of the sharpest minds in investing. He's the President and CEO of Veritas Group of Companies. ----- Approximate Chapters: (00:00) Introduction (01:26) Early Career (02:53) The Enron Scandal (05:48) Lessons on Auditing (16:12) The AI 'Bubble' and the State of the Market (18:46) Ad Break (20:50) The AI 'Bubble' and the State of the Market (Cont.) (28:12) Parallels Between the Fall of Nortel Networks and the Current AI Economy (35:15) Ad Break (36:10) Parallels Between the Fall of Nortel Networks and the Current AI Economy (Cont.) (39:14) Investing Rules for Better Investments (42:14) Red Flags to Look Out for When Investing? (45:56) The Rise and Fall of Valeant Pharmaceuticals (53:04) Is a Complicated Corporate Structure Bad? (55:54) Companies Don't Start Out Being Crooked (57:53) Why is EBITDA a Disastrous Measurement? (1:00:47) How Should Investors See Stock Options / How to Account for Stock Options (1:06:30) What Incentives to Look for in a Company When Investing? (1:11:31) The Rise of Index Investing (1:15:41) Buybacks and Share Count (1:21:21) What Makes Warren Buffett a Unique Investor? (1:26:58) The Power of the Retail Investor (1:32:30) What Is Success for You? ----- Thank you to the sponsors for this episode: Basecamp: Stop struggling, start making progress. Get somewhere with Basecamp. Sign up free at http://basecamp.com/knowledgeproject reMarkable: Get your paper tablet at https://www.reMarkable.com today .tech domains: Nothing says tech like being on .tech https://get.tech/ ----- Upgrade: Get a hand edited transcripts and ad free experiences along with my thoughts and reflections at the end of every conversation. Learn more @ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/membership⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠------Newsletter: The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it’s completely free. Learn more and sign up at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠------Follow Shane ParrishX ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@ShaneAParrish⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Insta ⁠@farnamstreet⁠ LinkedIn ⁠Shane Parrish Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I hate calling things bubbles, but I think we're in a period of extreme euphoria,
0:07.0	where you read and speak to investors and they say that the numbers don't matter,
0:12.0	and the financial statements no longer matter because this is changing the world.
0:17.0	I say, well, I've seen this before.
0:20.0	You know, I saw that Nortel was changing the world and Lucent and Cisco and 360 networks.
0:26.6	They were building out the infrastructure of the Internet that we're using today.
0:30.6	But those companies don't exist anymore.
0:33.6	Anthony Shulipati is a forensic accountant who saw what others missed, predicting the collapse
0:38.4	of both valiant pharmaceuticals and Nortel long before it happened.
0:42.2	He spent decades reading what companies don't want you to see, the footnotes.
0:46.5	Now he's spotting familiar warning signs in today's AI boom.
0:50.2	What are the red flags you look for?
0:52.0	It's not red flags.
0:52.9	We call them flammable item.
0:55.0	It's a three-stage process.
0:57.0	The first stage is...
0:58.0	This episode of the Knowledge Project is for informational purposes only.
1:06.0	The views and opinions expressed by Shane Parrish or our guests are solely their own.
1:14.9	Nothing in this conversation should be considered investment advice, financial guidance, or a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Always do your own due diligence or consult
1:20.1	with a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions. It's time to listen and learn.
1:26.6	I want to start with how you got into forensic accounting.
1:30.0	I was an accountant and I was working at Arthur Anderson doing the normal audit sort of
	...

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