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Two dozen protesters entered the lion’s den to disrupt an activist investors conference in Midtown Manhattan on Monday.
Protesters from a group called “HedgeClippers” walked into the Crowne Plaza Hotel ballroom, on the second floor, at about 1 p.m. and started chanting “Bill Ackman, give me $15,” a reference to the restaurant workers’ demand for a minimum wage of $15 an hour.
They marched across the ballroom, where more than 500 participants at the 13D Monitor’s Active-Passive Investor Summit were having lunch while listening to a management panel talk about fending off activists.
The protesters carried large orange signs saying “Dignity at Darden” and chanted the name of “Jeff Smith,” the head of hedge fund Starboard Value, who is chairman of the board of Darden.
Another chant was “Hedge fund billionaires, pay your fair share!”
After about 10 minutes of disrupting the conference, the hotel said over a loudspeaker, “The police have been called. Please vacate the premises,” but the protesters did not stop.
Catherine Barnett, of the Restaurant Opportunity Centers, which was one of the participants in the protest, called the event “a success.” The protesters left after about 20 minutes.
Ackman didn’t address the protesters’ demands, but he dropped a bombshell of his own about his nearly 3-year-old battle with Herbalife.
“Senior management has actually hired or is looking to their own criminal defense attorneys,” said Ackman, who added that the company’s lawyers at Boies Schiller and Gibson Dunn would want to keep that from happening “as long as possible.”
Ackman said the development may mean that “people are at risk of going to jail” and the “likelihood of a senior executive going rogue” becomes “much more likely.”
Ackman said the explosive information came from a “reliable source” whom he declined to name.
Ackman’s Herbalife short is underwater again, given a recent runup in its shares.
But the activist investor says the bet is “better than ever,” given these developments in the investigation.
Herbalife spokesman Alan Hoffman denied that top execs are looking for independent counsel.
“He may not know,” said Ackman. Herbalife shares were down 2.26 percent to close at $42.84.