Short-seller Muddy Waters backs China critic Dan David’s new Wolfpack Research

Dan David, cofounder of Skippack-based GeoInvesting, which has a history researching China stocks and red-flagging suspected frauds, has launched an “investigative and due diligence” firm, Wolfpack Research LLC.

Backers include Muddy Waters Capital LLC, owned by short-seller Carson Block.

David has a long track record targeting “predatory managements,” and his passion for finding and exposing fraudsters is “heartfelt,” said Block in a statement. His firm declined to say how much it is investing with Wolfpack, which would be based in New York.

David was the Republican nominee for U.S. Congress in Montgomery County’s 4th District last fall (he lost to U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa.) His work at GeoInvesting was featured in last year’s movie The China Hustle, which notes how American politicians and public figures of both parties have worked closely with Chinese companies and frustrated some U.S. efforts to get the SEC and Congress to rein in fraud by China-based investment promoters.

After the bull market of the past 10 years, "there’s a desperate need for more skeptical research and critical voices to balance our financial ecosystem,” David said in a statement.

He has a record of sending researchers to check out Chinese mines, farms and factories, where they often found — and David’s firm gleefully reported — empty lots or quiet warehouses instead of the money-making industries claimed by promoters.

While other investors say China’s growing stock market is a better bet than it used to be, David pledged to "howl as loudly as we can from the tallest mountain” as his firm targets bad investments.