The Bear Cave #318

New Activist Reports, Recent Resignations, and Tweets of the Week

Mar 22, 2026

Welcome to The Bear Cave! Our last premium articles were “More Problems at Serve Robotics (SERV)” and “Even More Problems at Medical Properties Trust (MPT)” and our next special investigation for paid readers comes out Thursday, April 2.

New Activist Reports

Grizzly Research published on Accor S.A. (Paris: AC — EUR 9.30 billion), a French hotel and resort company. Grizzly alleged that Accor failed basic human-trafficking safeguards and showed Accor was willing to facilitate questionable bookings involving minors, such as booking a single bed room for an adult male and an unrelated minor female. Grizzly found that among the 50 Accor hotels that responded to its suspicious booking outreach, “a shocking 80% cooperated by providing quotes, confirming reservations, agreeing to arrange condoms and alcohol, or engaging substantively without raising safeguarding concerns.” By contrast, only 1 out of 56 non-Accord hotels contacted by Grizzly “seemed willing to service a problematic request.”

Grizzly also highlighted “several concerning reports about sexual abuse in the Accor locations” and published material from the recently released Epstein files that allegedly show “Accor CEO Sébastien Bazin had personal ties with Epstein.”

Muddy Waters Research published on SoFi Technologies (NASDAQ: SOFI — $21.6 billion), a digital banking app. Muddy Waters called SoFi “a financial engineering treadmill” with “GE Capital-style marks, Enron-esque off-balance-sheet structures, and relentless dilution.” Muddy Waters alleged SoFi understates personal-loan losses by selling delinquent loans just before charge-off and moving troubled loans off balance sheet, which in turn inflates fair-value marks and adjusted EBITDA. Muddy Waters said that after adjusting for inflated marks, off-balance-sheet borrowings, and capitalized expenses, it reduced 2025 Adjusted EBITDA by ~90%.

In response, SoFi said it “[intends] to explore potential legal action against Muddy Waters for the factually inaccurate and misleading report.” Muddy Waters retorted that SoFi “has still not engaged with any specific allegation in our report.”

Viceroy Research published on Close Brothers Group (London: CBG — GDP 519 million), a UK-based commercial lender. Viceroy alleged that Close Brothers “systematically misrepresented its exposure to the FCA’s forthcoming Motor Finance Consumer Redress Scheme” and its existing £300 million provision is far too low because its loan book was unusually concentrated in loans affected by this new UK regulation.

Recent Resignations

Notable executive departures disclosed in the past week include:

CEO and CFO of Fortune Brands Innovations (NYSE: FBIN — $4.91 billion) resigned after six years and one year, respectively. In addition, Mr. Amit Banati, the former CFO of Kellogg’s who signed an employment agreement to become CEO of Fortune Brands Innovations in February, “will not assume the role of Chief Executive Officer” and instead “will receive ‘Make Whole Compensation’ in the form of a one-time cash payment of $18,355,000.” The home security and water management products company has had five CFOs and three CEOs in the last ten years.
CFO of H World Group (NASDAQ: HTHT — $15.8 billion) stepped down with immediate effect after nearly two years. The Chinese hotel management company has had six CFOs in the last five years. In September 2020, Bonitas Research alleged the company had improper relationships with related parties and produced fake financials.
CFO of SoundHound AI (NASDAQ: SOUN — $2.76 billion) resigned “to assume a leadership role at a company in the quantum computing space” after four and a half years.
Mr. Daniel Gay, board member of Pattern Group (NASDAQ: PTRN — $1.96 billion), resigned after nearly one and a half years. In December 2025, The Bear Cave published on the third party ecommerce seller and wrote, in part,
“It is a business model that is difficult to scale, with thin margins, low barriers to entry, and a history of mixed success. The Bear Cave concludes Pattern’s multi-billion-dollar valuation is based more on hype than substance and that its leadership is more bark than bite.”
Four board members of Gran Tierra Energy (NYSE: GTE — $304 million) resigned with immediate effect. The company disclosed the departing directors “informed the Board that their respective resignations were due to disagreement with the majority of the then five-member Audit Committee regarding the handling of the Audit Committee’s independent investigation into an anonymous complaint.” The company added that “the complaint does not involve any allegations of fraudulent activity or misstatement in the company’s financial statements” and said “the Audit Committee has resolved to continue the investigation into this complaint, and has directed management to further investigate the matter and to engage external legal counsel and other advisors as necessary to assist in the investigation.”

Data for this section is provided by VerityData from VerityPlatform.com

News of the Week

“Top Apollo Executive Sounds Off on ‘Arrogance’ in Private Markets” (WSJ)

“‘I literally think all the marks are wrong,’ Apollo’s John Zito said of private equity in previously unreported comments; Apollo says comment was about software companies.”

“SEC Announces Enforcement Division Director Judge Margaret A. Ryan Has Resigned From Agency” (SEC)

“As I recently said, I did not seek the role of Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. Rather, this role found me. And for that, I am grateful. I am confident that the foundation I helped to shape – working together with Chairman Atkins - will continue to serve investors and the markets well.”

“Fortune Brands’ new CEO never officially worked a day—but he’ll get $18.4 million after a massive leadership shakeup” (Fortune)

“Amit Banati left a CFO job at a Fortune 500 company, signed a contract to become CEO of Fortune Brands Innovations, and then never officially worked a single day in the role. He walked away this week with $18.4 million in cash.”