The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday, Feb. 13, edition that Fairfax Financial Holdings pushed back Monday on allegations by short-seller Muddy Waters Research, calling them "false and misleading." The Globe's David Milstead writes that Muddy Waters claims Fairfax has overstated its balance sheet by $4.5-billion (U.S.). It questions how Fairfax implemented a recent insurance industry accounting standard. On Monday, Fairfax accused Muddy Waters of making "one-sided, ill-informed allegations and insinuations in a transparent attempt to profit by short selling our stock." Fairfax said, "They may have successfully done this with other companies, but they have woefully misjudged the strength of Fairfax's financials and prospects and we are confident the marketplace will reflect our strong fundamentals." In a statement Monday, Muddy Waters said, "We look forward to a substantive response from Fairfax that actually addresses our findings." In its report Thursday, Muddy Waters said 60 per cent of the increase in Fairfax's book value since 2017 "is the product of abusive accounting often from value destructive, non-substantive transactions." The book value is overstated by 18 per cent, Muddy Waters argues.