:Max Keiser

Keiser grew up in Westchester County, New York. After studying theatre at New York University, he took a variety of jobs in stand-up comedy and in radio, a part-time job as a stockbroker in the 1980s at Paine Webber, and at the midtown office of Oppenheimer and Co. Inc. under David Tufts.

{{Main|Hollywood Stock Exchange}}

Keiser is the creator, co-founder, and former CEO of HSX Holdings/Hollywood Stock Exchange, later sold to Cantor Fitzgerald.[http://www.hsx.com/about/history.htm] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081222092843/http://www.hsx.com/about/history.htm|date=December 22, 2008}} Alongside Michael R. Burns, he co-invented the Virtual Specialist {{cite web|url=http://www.freepatentsonline.com/5950176.html |title=Computer-implemented securities trading system with a virtual specialist function - HSX, Inc |publisher=Freepatentsonline.com |date=March 25, 1996 |access-date=2013-11-30}} platform on which the Hollywood Stock Exchange operates. This technology allows traders to exchange virtual securities, such as "MovieStocks" and "StarBonds", with convertible virtual currency, the "Hollywood Dollar". In 1998 Digital Coast Reporter recognized Keiser as one of Los Angeles' top 50 internet executives for his work on this project.{{cite tweet|number=1159234316142034944|user=maxkeiser|title=Thanks @markjeffrey for finding this Digital Coast Reporter story from 1998.|date=August 7, 2019}}

Keiser presented Rumble at the Box Office{{cite journal | title = Access' Denied | journal = Village Voice | date = November 16, 1999 | first = Peter | last = Braunstein | author-link = Peter Braunstein | url = http://www.villagevoice.com/1999-11-16/news/access-denied/ | access-date = 2010-10-26 | archive-date = July 1, 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090701035719/http://www.villagevoice.com/1999-11-16/news/access-denied/ | url-status = dead }} for NBC's Access Hollywood. He also produced and hosted the weekly talk show Buy, Sell, Hold for CBS radio's KLSX in Los Angeles, CA. He also presented The Truth About Markets on Resonance 104.4 FM in London, but the show is no longer listed on their website as of at least June 2022.{{cite web | url=https://resonancefm.com/programmes | title=Resonance FM }}

{{main| People & Power}}

Keiser produced 10 short documentary films covering aspects of financial markets for Al Jazeera's series People & Power.{{IMDb title|1062182|People and Power (TV Series 2007– )}} The films include Rigged Markets,{{cite web|url=http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/peopleandpower/2007/05/2008525185835422616.html |title=Rigged Markets |publisher=English.aljazeera.net |access-date=2011-05-10}} Money Geyser,{{cite web|url=http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/peopleandpower/2007/08/200852518466637279.html |title=Money Geyser |publisher=English.aljazeera.net |access-date=2011-05-10}} Death of the Dollar,{{cite web|url=http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/peopleandpower/2007/12/20085251836767319.html |title=Death of the Dollar 2 |publisher=English.aljazeera.net |date=February 8, 2008 |access-date=2011-05-10}} Peaked,{{IMDb title|1171052|Peaked (TV episode 2008 #1.22)}} Extraordinary Antics,{{cite web|url=http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/peopleandpower/2007/06/2008525173655603400.html |title=Extraordinary Antics - People & Power |publisher=Al Jazeera English |access-date=2013-11-30}} Savers vs Speculators,{{cite web|url=http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/peopleandpower/2008/03/200852518343250220.html |title=Savers vs speculators - People & Power |publisher=Al Jazeera English |access-date=2013-11-30}} Banking On It,{{cite web|url=http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/peopleandpower/2007/05/2008525185122288426.html |title=Banking on it - People & Power |publisher=Al Jazeera English |access-date=2013-11-30}} Private Finance or Public Swindle?{{cite web|url=http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/peopleandpower/2008/03/2008525185553743197.html |title=Private finance or public swindle? |publisher=English.aljazeera.net |date=March 17, 2008 |access-date=2011-05-10}} and Focus on Locusts.{{cite web|url=http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/peopleandpower/2007/12/2008525173528498404.html |title=Focus on locusts |publisher=English.aljazeera.net |access-date=2011-05-10}}

A pilot episode was produced for Al-Jazeera English titled The Oracle. The show was developed into a series for BBC World News.{{cite web |url=http://www.bbcworldnews.com/Pages/Programme.aspx?id=246 |title=BBC News – World Radio and TV |publisher=Bbcworldnews.com |date=April 26, 2011 |access-date=2011-05-10 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090407152848/http://www.bbcworldnews.com/Pages/Programme.aspx?id=246 |archive-date=April 7, 2009 |df=mdy-all }} The series first aired on January 9, 2009. Keiser left the BBC after ten episodes. On Twitter, he said he left because he was ordered not to mention Israel in any context.{{cite tweet|user=maxkeiser|author=Max Keiser|number=495984703284199425|date=August 3, 2014|title=The reason I quit my BBC show; got strict orders not to mention Israel in any context. This kind of censorship leads to #Gaza horror.}}

A weekly half-hour financial commentary show that started in 2009 and broadcast on Press TV.

{{see also|Keiser Report}}

File:Maxkeisertoronto.jpg

From September 2009 until February 2022, Keiser hosted The Keiser Report with financial news and analysis, on the RT network. The 30-minute program is produced three times a week. Stacy Herbert (Keiser's wife){{cite news|last=Stahl|first=Jeremy|url=https://slate.com/business/2013/07/max-keiser-of-russia-today-the-youtube-star-is-the-thinking-mans-alex-jones.html|title='The Maw of This Cuisinart of Fraud'|work=Slate|date=July 15, 2013|access-date=March 19, 2021}} was the co-host; she bantered with Keiser on headlines and commentary. Most episodes are divided into two parts. In the first half, Keiser and Herbert alternately discussed a current financial topic, commented on financial media reports, and provided commentary on the actions of bankers. The second half featured a guest interview, either face-to-face in the studio or through video conferencing, conducted by Keiser.

An episode broadcast in September 2011 featured an interview with comedian Roseanne Barr, who satirically stated that her solution to the financial crisis was to "bring back the guillotine".{{cite journal | title = Roseanne Barr: 'Guilty' Wall Street Bankers Should Be Sent to Reeducation Camps or Beheaded | journal = Fox News | date = October 3, 2011 | url = https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/roseanne-barr-guilty-wall-street-bankers-should-be-sent-to-reeducation-camps-or-beheaded/|access-date=2013-11-30 }}

The show's guests regularly included advocates for and entrepreneurs working in the cryptocurrency and blockchain fields.

The show ended in February 2022 after Keiser and Herbert resigned from RT and deleted previous pro-Russian statements in response to changes in the media landscape following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Keiser has appeared as a financial pundit on a number of news networks. Keiser called for a "fatwā" against Hank Paulson{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZiWd0bGAdc |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211215/rZiWd0bGAdc |archive-date=2021-12-15 |url-status=live|title=Max Keiser – Aljazeera English News – 16 November 2008 |publisher=YouTube |access-date=2011-05-10}}{{cbignore}} on Al Jazeera in response to the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). In a later broadcast Keiser said, "Paulson stinks".{{citation needed|date=December 2017}} Keiser has advised investors to buy bitcoin and precious metals such as gold and silver, in order to undermine "the banksters". In November 2012, he predicted that the UK pound was about to collapse.

Keiser founded the hedge fund Karmabanque, which sought to profit from any decline in equity value of companies that are susceptible to boycott from environmental groups.{{cite web |url=http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1123-10.htm |title=Hedge Fund Shorts Its Way Into Political Activism |publisher=Commondreams.org |date=November 23, 2004 |access-date=2013-11-30 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130814115227/http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1123-10.htm |archive-date=August 14, 2013 |df=mdy-all }} The hedge fund's progress was followed monthly in The Ecologist magazine.[http://theecologist.co.uk/pages/archive_detail.asp?content_id=396] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150424042945/http://theecologist.co.uk/pages/archive_detail.asp?content_id=396|date=April 24, 2015}} Its targets included Coca-Cola{{cite news|author=Paul Marinko |url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2004/nov/25/2 |title=Campaign aims to hit Coke where it hurts | Business |work=The Guardian |date=November 25, 2004 |access-date=2013-11-30 |location=London}} and McDonald's.

The Karmabanque hedge fund project was designed to simultaneously short-sell companies while funneling profits into environmental and ethical-business pressure groups that further act to drive down the companies' stock prices. Describing the project, Keiser stated, "The Internet allows people, activists, from all over the world to gather, or swarm, and hit a company where it hurts most—in their stock price."{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25215-2004Dec24.html |title=Hedge Funds Banking on Social and Moral Issues |work=washingtonpost.com |date= December 25, 2004|access-date=2013-11-30 |first=Thomas M. |last=Kostigen}}

The Guardian newspaper described Keiser's Karmabanque hedge fund as a "fantastical scheme" and accused him of trying to exist "beyond the normal forces and controls of society".{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2004/nov/26/9 |title=Notebook: Iconic dotcom has lost its way | Business |work=The Guardian |date=November 26, 2004 |access-date=2013-11-30 |location=London}} A spokesman for Ryanair said, "Since they put Ryanair on their list, our share price has gone up by 10 percent. We are always delighted to be part of a list which includes Coca-Cola, Starbucks, and Wal-Mart."{{cite web|url=http://www.indymedia.ie/article/83266 |title=Max Keiser, Ryanair and the eco fears forcing their way onto the share price – Indymedia Ireland |publisher=Indymedia.ie |access-date=2011-05-10}}

In the Al-Jazeera short film Extraordinary Antics,{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CVEMysbdOQ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081216011848/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CVEMysbdOQ |archive-date=2008-12-16 |url-status=dead|title=Extraordinary Antics, Part 1 |publisher=Youtube.com |date=June 18, 2007 |access-date=2011-05-10}} Keiser traveled to Milan and Venice to find out how Central Intelligence Agency station chief Robert Seldon Lady and his fellow CIA agents spent $500,000 on a procedure known as extraordinary rendition, an illegal practice that resulted in an Egyptian citizen, who had been granted asylum in Italy, being abducted and tortured in Cairo.

The CIA was prosecuted for the case and Robert Seldon Lady was found guilty in a Milan court. He was sentenced on November 9, 2009 to nine years in prison, according to The Guardian.{{Citation needed|date=February 2012}} This verdict was upheld on appeal, but the US refuses to extradite Lady to Italy.{{cite web|last=Mascolo |first=Georg |url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,458821,00.html |title=Milan's Extraordinary Renditions Case: The CIA in the Dock |publisher=Spiegel.de |date=January 10, 2007 |access-date=2013-11-30}}

Keiser has labeled JPMorgan Chase "the biggest financial terrorist on Wall Street" in relation to their alleged manipulation of the price of silver.{{cite web|last=Taylor|first=Jeff|title=Max Keiser tells the world to Crash JP Morgan, buy silver|url=http://www.economicvoice.com/max-keiser-tells-the-world-to-crash-jp-morgan-buy-silver#axzz15IxazSq7|publisher=The Economic Voice|access-date=November 15, 2010}} Keiser created a campaign called "Crash JP Morgan—buy silver",{{cite web|last=Keiser|first=Max|title=Crash JP Morgan Buy Silver says Max Keiser|url=http://maxkeiser.com/2010/11/12/crash-jp-morgan-buy-silver-america-says-max-keiser/|publisher=Max Keiser|access-date=November 15, 2010|archive-date=March 15, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120315001704/http://maxkeiser.com/2010/11/12/crash-jp-morgan-buy-silver-america-says-max-keiser/|url-status=dead}}{{Cite news |author= Zarowny, Andrew |title= Crash JP Morgan Buy Silver – Growing Economic Guerrilla War to Crash Bank with Silver Bullets |url= http://www.rightpundits.com/?p=7681 |work= Rightpundits.com |date= November 14, 2010 |access-date= November 15, 2010 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101116141817/http://www.rightpundits.com/?p=7681 |archive-date= November 16, 2010 |df= mdy-all }}{{Cite news |author= Taylor, Jeff |title= Max Keiser tells the world to Crash JP Morgan, buy silver |url= http://www.economicvoice.com/max-keiser-tells-the-world-to-crash-jp-morgan-buy-silver/50014046#ixzz15MNhRZGX |work= The Economic Voice |date= November 12, 2010 |access-date= November 15, 2010}} whereby people buy silver bullion, thus raising its price and leaving JP Morgan with a huge short position to cover, the margin of which are collateralized by JPMorgan's own stock price, bankrupting itself. The campaign was introduced on the Alex Jones Radio show in November 2010.{{cite web|url=http://unitednationsoffilm.com/?p=2452|title=Crash JPMorgan Buy Silver campaign goes global|publisher=United Nations of Film}} Writing in The Guardian in December 2010,{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/dec/02/jp-morgan-silver-short-selling-crash|title=Want JP Morgan to Crash? Buy Silver|author=Max Keiser|work=The Guardian|access-date=2010-12-02|location=London|date=December 2, 2010}} Keiser suggested that the text "crash jp morgan buy silver" should be used as a googlebomb to virally promote the campaign.

Adweek magazine described Keiser as "the most visible character in an underground movement that has spurred hundreds of blog posts and videos, and played some small part in driving up the price of precious metals".{{cite journal | title = Silver Bug Goes Viral With Marketing War Max Keiser has become a fringe media star thanks to the Web | journal = Adweek | date = June 2, 2011 | first = Brian | last = Braiker| url = http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/silver-bug-goes-viral-marketing-war-132161|access-date=2013-11-30 }}

Keiser drew criticism at the 2000 ShowBiz Expo in Las Vegas when he said of media content that "Everything is inescapably going to a price point called free." In response, Kevin Tsujihara, executive vice president of New Media at Warner Bros., commented that "Piracy.com" will be the victor if superior content is available on sites supported by advertisements.{{cite news|author=Ann Donahue |url=https://www.variety.com/article/VR1117783024.html?categoryid=1009&cs=1 |title=Showbiz Expo focus: Tech issues |publisher=Variety |date=June 26, 2000 |access-date=2013-11-30}}

In 2005, Steven Milloy, the "Junk Science" commentator, demanded that Keiser be removed from the panel of the Triple Bottom Line Investing conference, where he was scheduled to appear. Milloy accused Keiser of making threats against his organization{{cite web|url=http://www.freeenterpriseactionfund.com/release101005.htm |title=Advocacy |publisher=Free Enterprise Action Fund |access-date=2011-05-10}} and petitioned sponsors Calvert Investments and KLD Research & Analytics to withdraw from the project.{{cite web |url=http://www.clear-profit.com/samplestories/cpoct0506.htm |title=Clear Profit |publisher=Clear Profit |date=November 16, 2005 |access-date=2011-05-10 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708163542/http://www.clear-profit.com/samplestories/cpoct0506.htm |archive-date=July 8, 2011 |df=mdy-all }} Robert Rubenstein, founder of conference organiser Brooklyn Bridge, stated that Keiser's comments "do not constitute a threat to person or property and are not related to the conference or the content that will be presented there".

The Atlantic magazine's The Wire website speculated that a Downfall parody video created to promote Keiser's campaign was implicated in the sacking of Grant Williams, the Asia equity trading head at J.P. Morgan.{{cite web|url=http://www.thewire.com/business/2013/07/heres-jamie-dimon-downfall-parody-cost-bank-186-million/66940/|title=Here's the Jamie Dimon 'Downfall' Parody That Cost a Bank $1.86 Million|publisher=The Wire|author=Connor Simpson|date=July 8, 2013|access-date=March 29, 2014|archive-date=June 6, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140606204917/http://www.thewire.com/business/2013/07/heres-jamie-dimon-downfall-parody-cost-bank-186-million/66940/|url-status=dead}}

Since the end of 2022, both Max Keiser and his wife Stacy Herbert have served as bureaucrats at the head of the National Bitcoin Office of El Salvador, a country that adopted Bitcoin as its official currency.

Keiser is married to Stacy Herbert, a former Canadian television presenter of the Keiser Report on RT, and Double Down on Radio Sputnik. File:Max and Stacy at Kremlin (4340809672).jpg

{{Portal| Biography }}

• Error account – a term often mentioned by Max Keiser

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Category:1960 births

Category:Living people

Category:American chief executives of financial services companies

Category:American documentary film producers

Category:American male journalists

Category:American expatriates in the United Kingdom

Category:Television personalities from New Rochelle, New York

Category:Tisch School of the Arts alumni

Category:American stockbrokers

Category:RT (TV network) people