‘Big Short’ Investor Michael Burry Sues To Halt ‘Dangerous’ Subdivision in California Wildfire Zone

Famed investor Dr. Michael Burry is leading the charge against a California city's plans to build a new housing development in the hills surrounding Saratoga, CA, citing wildfire risk.A new lawsuit spearheaded by Burry claims the planned Masson Estates development would be built in a high-risk fire hazard zone, and that further development in the area would put the community's already congested evacuation roads at risk of overloading with congestion in a disaster.Burry made his name and his fortune from correctly predicting the 2008 housing collapse. His hedge fund Scion Capital netted around $800 million during the subprime mortgage crisis by purchasing credit default swaps, $100 million of which went directly to Burry. The 2015 movie "The Big Short" prominently features Burry as a character, played by Christian Bale.Burry closed his hedge fund in 2025, and since then, he's taken the mantle at Citizens for Responsible and Equitable Development (CRED), a volunteer-run nonprofit that monitors local housing laws.Last week, CRED filed a petition with the Superior Court of California urging local lawmakers to cancel Masson Estates, a planned development consisting of 20 market-rate and...