Stansberry Research was founded in 1999 as an independent investment research firm. In addition to his editorial duties, company founder, Frank Porter Stansberry, writes opinion pieces in a variety of financial publications discussing diverse and controversial issues ranging from the auto bailout to the European financial panic, among others. Other Stansberry public information efforts include production of a 2011 infomercial entitled "The End of America," as well as the founding of "The Project to Restore America," a 2012 endeavor aimed at restructuring American governance. He has also been recorded using racist and homophobic slurs on his premium radio program. In 2014, Snopes.com investigated the firm's claim that United States currency will "collapse", and found this claim to be false.
Analysts
Porter Stansberry is the founder of Stansberry Research and the editor of Stansberry’s Investment Advisory. Steve Sjuggerud is the founder and editor of the Stansberry Research publication True Wealth, launched in 2001. He is also a co-author of a book on investment strategies called Safe Strategies for Financial Freedom. David Eifrig is the editor of Retirement Millionaire and is a regular contributor to the Stansberry Research publication Daily Wealth. Eifrig is the author of two books, The Doctor’s Protocol Field Manual, and High Income Retirement: How to Safely Earn 12% to 20% Income Streams to Your Savings. Matt Badiali is the editor of S&A Resource Report, which focuses on natural resources, metals, energy, and investments. He joined Stansberry Research in 2005 and has a BS in Earth Sciences from Penn State University and a Masters in Geology from Florida Atlantic University. Dan Ferris has been the editor of Extreme Value, a newsletter that concentrates on safe stocks, good businesses, and steep discounts, since 2002. Stansberry Research published Ferris’ book World Dominating Dividend Growers: Income Streams that Never Go Down in July 2014.
Fraud accusation and conviction
In November 2003, the Securities and Exchange Commission accused Stansberry of fraud committed while he edited various newsletters published under the umbrella of Agora, Inc. and Agora subsidiary, Pirate Investors LLC. In August 2007, the court found Stansberry guilty with the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and subsequently denied a 2009 appeal.
On May 24, 2006, the body of Rey Rivera, a financial writer and videographer for Stansberry Research was found inside the Belvedere Hotel. Rey Rivera and Porter Stansberry met when they were teenagers and were best friends. Rey Rivera and his wife had moved to Baltimore so that Rivera could work with Stansberry. The Baltimore Police Department was unable to question Rivera's workplace regarding the nature of Rivera's death due to a gag order placed by Stansberry's legal team hours after Rivera's body was found. Porter Stansberry has refused to speak to police about the death of his best friend. The case is unique to Stansberry Research due to Rivera's longtime friendship with Porter Stansberry and Rivera receiving a phone call from the Stansberry offices at the moment of his disappearance on May 16, 2006.