As Viceroy took to social media teasing the reveal of its next South African target, it set off a scramble significantly bigger in impact than previous short-selling attacks attempted within the Australian and US markets. Investors, faced with billions of dollars going up in smoke, sought answers as to who was behind this mysterious operation.

Viceroy was a three-member team operating out of New York, Bloomberg reported. The race to uncover this apparent trio was intensified.

Journalists, and badly burnt South African traders, weren't the only ones trying to unmask Viceroy. On social media, Viceroy was waging a long-running and relentless war with US drug company MiMedx, which turned to the courts to identify the individuals behind the research.

In Australia, Shaun Verner, the chief executive of the ASX's most heavily shorted stock, Syrah Resources, was left frustrated by efforts to rein in anonymous reports; Viceroy had taken to popular investing site Seeking Alpha to share their short case on Syrah.

The mysterious Viceroy also took on Quintis. The sandalwood producer had already imploded after a report from US-based firm Glaucus triggered scrutiny of its operation, leading to revelations that a major supply contract loss was not disclosed to the stock market.

In the high-stakes game of exposing corporate misdeeds around the world, secrecy was paramount to Viceroy.

The blunder

But this past week, just as Viceroy's reputation as corporate slayers reached new heights on its Steinhoff work, an apparent error jeopardised its preference for anonymity.


That blunder appears to have forced the individuals behind Viceroy to come forward.

A digital trail embedded in the research files uploaded on Viceroy's website led to the Melbourne suburbs of Blackburn South and Box Hill.

The Viceroy trio were two Melbourne university graduates (one recently employed by Ferrier Hodgson) and a former social worker from Lincolnshire in Britain.

Their identities came to light after a joint investigation by AFR Weekend and Moneyweb, a South African finance news website.

The name of Gabriel Bernarde appeared in the metadata of three files uploaded onto Viceroy's website, including a 50-page report on Quintis titled "Money Doesn't Grow on Trees". It's not clear if he authored the report or attached the photos, but it offered a vital clue to unmasking the individuals behind the firm.

Intriguingly, Mr Bernarde was an employee of liquidator Ferrier Hodgson based in Melbourne. That firm had been appointed by Steinhoff's Australian unit to negotiate with its banks.

It is understood Mr Bernarde handed in his resignation on November 3, telling his superiors of his intention to pursue a new career.

A former colleague that worked with Mr Bernarde said he left the firm at Christmas, and another source confirmed he officially left on December 22.


Mr Bernarde was a junior analyst and researched companies in his role at the firm. Ferrier Hodgson said in a statement that "any actions Mr Bernarde took were his own undertaking and not as part of his employment with Ferrier Hodgson".

The Viceroy mastermind, however, is Fraser John Perring.

That link was established because in August last year Mr Perring, Mr Bernarde and Mr Aidan Lau set up a business in Britain called Ganadabi Ltd, which they classified as a publishing company.

Mr Lau appears to be French with an Australian address. His social media accounts confirm that both he and Mr Bernarde graduated from Balwyn High School in 2012.

Mr Bernarde referred AFR Weekend to Viceroy when he was first approached.

"Yeah I can't help you with that. You'll have to reach out to Viceroy. Good Luck," he responded.

The response to questions sent to Viceroy's e-mail account was equally vague.

"We cannot account for names in the metadata such as Paul, Gabriel, Chris, Darren or Edward plus family names," the e-mailed response said.


"We reiterate we are anonymous and find it odd the focus is on pseudonyms rather than facts and research. Like sources of information for journalists, the facts are more important than the speculation of who is the source or has something changed?"

Shortly after AFR Weekend sought from Mr Bernarde a clear answer about his apparent links to Viceroy and Mr Perring, a call was received from Mr Perring in New York.

He admitted that he was the individual behind Viceroy, after shutting down Zatarra, another anonymous research firm that sought to expose corporate misdemeanours.

Viceroy, he confirmed, consisted of himself Mr Lau, and Mr Bernarde, who reached out to him while he was still operating Zatarra.

Mr Perring offered to confirm himself as the man behind Viceroy but asked for a delay in publication for safety reasons.

Within 24 hours, and shortly after communicating an on-the-record response via a statement would be forthcoming, Bloomberg published an article in which Mr Perring unmasked himself. He posed for a photograph and confirmed the roles of Mr Bernarde and Mr Lau.

In a follow-up report describing Mr Perring as a "hero" to short sellers, Mr Bernarde, Mr Perring told Bloomberg, was introduced to him in 2016 by a mutual contact. The Australian pair quit their day jobs last year to focus on Viceroy full time, Mr Perring said.

But even after the unmasking of Viceroy, questions remain about its trading and business activities, if and how it profits from its research. Viceroy appears to have sympathetic relationships with some of the world's most vocal short sellers. Mr Perring has formed a public alliance with famed short seller Mark Cohodes, who has a reputation as a fearless attacker of fraudulent companies.


Mr Cohodes and Viceroy have a common interest in the affairs of MiMedx.

As other companies bemoaned but largely tolerated Viceroy's accusations, MiMedx Group proved to be an inexhaustible nemesis.

MiMedx mounted a libel action against a number of critics, including Viceroy Research, and has signalled its intent to pursue its suit even after the court recommended last week that claims be dropped against three of the defendants.

As part of that action, it sought expedited discovery to unmask Viceroy. That was partially granted, although narrower in scope than the plaintiffs sought, but the decision is in effect redundant now that Mr Perring has gone public.

In the process, one of the defendants, John Fichthorn of BR Dialectic Capital Management, submitted a declaration admitting he had no idea who was behind Viceroy, but also urged the plaintiffs to give up on their hunt.

"It is my experience that entities and individuals who discuss publicly traded companies, both favourably and unfavourably, provide essential viewpoints and context to assist investors in making investment decisions, including comments by anonymous online entities such as Viceroy," he wrote.

"Without anonymity, those with important perspectives regarding publicly traded companies may be unwilling or unable to make their views public, particularly comments regarding corporations such as plaintiff MiMedx Group Inc that have repeatedly filed lawsuits against their critics."

Another defendant, Sparrow Fund Management, claimed it was incorrectly named through the apparently mistaken assumption made by the plaintiffs that Sparrow was behind the Twitter account posting as "Aurelius Value". Claims against Sparrow were recommended for dismissal, as with Fichthorn and BR Dialectic.


MiMedx issued a press release on Thursday indicating it would not back down, and alluded to broadening its hunt.

"MiMedx believes that the District Court will reject the recommendations of the Magistrate and allow the litigation to proceed with the claims against all of the parties remaining intact."

In the same press release, MiMedx chief executive Parker H. "Pete" Petit, said: "Viceroy's announcement confirms the investigative work that we have done over the last several months to determine their identity. We continue to work on additional associations with this group."

An SEC investigation of MiMedx, with which it is cooperating, is ongoing.

South Africa's top fund managers aren't sleeping any easier. They're still anxiously waiting to learn Viceroy's next South African target.