Is King of Stonks’ Sheila Williams Based on a Real Person?

Portrayed by Larissa Sirah Herden, Sheila Williams is one of the main characters in the first season of ‘King of Stonks.’ The series revolves around the two heads of the German company CableCash — COO Felix Armand (Thomas Schubert) and CEO Magnus Cramer (Matthias Brandt). As the series begins, CableCash, a fintech start-up that sells cloud-based digital payment solutions, is about to go public. By this point, the company is already a massive success and is available in 40 countries. Sheila is a short seller and con artist. She pretends to be Amira Wallace, the daughter of a Nigerian billionaire and grows close to Felix while intending to short his company stocks. If you are wondering whether Sheila Williams is based on a real person, we got you covered. SPOILERS AHEAD.

Who Is Sheila Williams?

Sheila Williams is a ruthless hedge fund manager who sets her eyes on CableCash. After introducing herself as Amira, she tells Felix she is looking to invest in a suitable company. Completely believing her story, Felix later reaches out to speak to her father about investing in CableCash. The problem is that her father isn’t a billionaire but a kind middle-class man. Sheila and journalist Tom Wieland had an affair when she was his student in college. They initially collaborate on an exposé on CableCash, believing that Tom’s article will tank the company and Sheila will be able to make money off it. However, after Tom tries to restart their affair, Sheila parts ways with him.

Felix is almost ready to leave CableCash behind for her until his secretary/driver makes him aware that Sheila is a short seller. This seems to bring a drastic change in Felix, who subsequently ensures that Tom will go to jail and Sheila will be financially ruined.

Is Sheila Williams Based on a Real Person?

Although the incidents depicted in ‘King of Stonks’ seem to have been partly inspired by the Wirecard case, Sheila Williams doesn’t seem to be based on a real person. In a June 2022 interview, series co-creator Philipp Kässbohrer was asked about the role the Wirecard case played in the show. He replied that CableCash was its own fictitious company before adding that ‘King of Stonks’ creation was partly inspired by Wirecard. Kässbohrer later stated that they were more interested in the motivations behind scandals such as ‘Wirecard’ than the scandals themselves.

In an interview with Vogue Germany, Herden described her character as “a very ambitious short seller,” adding that “she (Sheila) smells big business at CableCash because she feels things aren’t quite right and tries to find evidence. CableCash is experiencing a meteoric rise, and shorting this stock could make some serious money. And that’s her goal, she wants to prove herself. She wants to be successful, she is ambitious and has tasted blood.”

Herden was somewhat familiar with the world depicted in ‘King of Stonks’ because of her time on ‘Bad Banks.’ “But of course I had to keep digging into it, just to know what was at stake and what amounts were being juggled. I just dealt with the topic: read about it, listened to podcasts, downloaded some apps and just looked at how to do it. You can now find out and implement a lot on your own, for example when it comes to stocks,” she explained.

Read More: Is King of Stonks’ Magnus Cramer Based on a Real Person? Where is He Now?