Cornwall Capital

Cornwall Capital was founded by Jamie Mai, Charlie Ledley, and Ben Hockett, who met at Brown University. None had traditional investment banking or hedge fund experience before launching the firm. Their approach was shaped by a contrarian, do-it-yourself ethos — they famously started with a single Schwab brokerage account and initially operated out of a friend's basement in Berkeley, California.

Cornwall Capital is best known for its trade during the 2007–2008 subprime mortgage crisis, profiled in Michael Lewis's book "The Big Short." The firm purchased deeply out-of-the-money credit default swaps on collateralized debt obligations tied to subprime mortgages at extremely low prices. When the housing market collapsed, these positions returned approximately 80x the firm's initial capital, transforming Cornwall from a small independent partnership into a well-known name in macro investing.

Cornwall Capital pursues a concentrated, options-based strategy centered on asymmetric payoff profiles. The firm purchases long-dated, deeply out-of-the-money puts, calls, and credit default instruments on macro themes — typically when implied volatility is cheap. This approach seeks rare, extreme market dislocations while risking limited amounts of premium. Sectors targeted have included mortgage credit, sovereign debt, currency derivatives, and precious metals.

Cornwall operates as a small, private investment partnership with a deliberately low public profile. The firm does not maintain a public-facing website, declines media interviews, and does not actively raise capital from institutional investors through standard marketing channels. This structure allows the firm to hold positions that may underperform for extended periods — something a traditional fund with quarterly redemption terms and mark-to-market reporting would find difficult to sustain.

No. Ben Hockett, one of Cornwall's original four partners according to Michael Lewis's account in "The Big Short," left the firm in the years following the financial crisis. He has not been involved in the day-to-day management of the firm's investment portfolio or investment decisions since his departure.