Defense lawyers for convicted activist short seller Andrew Left demanded a mistrial Friday, citing an unusual courtroom error that they say tainted the entire verdict and demanding a rerun of the case that gripped Wall Street. Left’s legal team spotted that jurors used an out-of-date court form to issue their verdict, which included a count accusing Left of lying to…
The prospect of prison time for short-seller Andrew Left, found guilty Monday of securities fraud, is more than a personal comeuppance. The case’s verdict is yet another blow to short-selling itself, a once-formidable force in financial markets that’s been battered by years of soaring stocks, retail investor activism, and growing regulatory pressure. To their detractors in the C-suite, subreddits and…
Andrew Left, one of Wall Street’s most outspoken short sellers, is standing before a Los Angeles jury this week as his long-anticipated criminal trial finally gets underway.
Jury selection is set for Monday in the case brought by the U.S. Department of Justice, which alleges that Left used his considerable media platform – cable television appearances, social media posts, and a newsletter followed by thousands of retail and institutional investors – to manipulate stock prices while secretly trading against his own public positions. Prosecutors say he reaped at least $16 million in profits through the scheme over roughly five and a half years.
Left, who founded Citron Research and became known for colorful, pointed reports targeting companies he deemed fraudulent or overvalued, has pleaded not guilty. His attorneys say he “acted in good faith in making honest public commentary” and argue there is no legal requirement compelling him to hold a position for any particular length of time after publishing his views.
Source: Andrew Left heads to trial as short-selling faces a legal reckoning – InvestmentNews
The crime of insider trading consists in taking advantage of other investors by buying or selling stock based on material, nonpublic information that could affect its value. I’m being prosecuted for doing the opposite of that. I publicly expressed a sincerely held opinion and later traded on it. Under the Justice Department’s theory, that’s a crime because I made so…
Nate Anderson, the short seller who wiped billions of dollars off the market values of companies including Nikola and Icahn Enterprises, is shutting down his firm, Hindenburg Research. He cited the toll the work took on his well-being. “I’ve spent most of the last eight years either in a fight or preparing for the next one,” he said in an…
Short seller Hindenburg Research on Thursday accused Carvana of running an “accounting grift for the ages” in a bombshell report — sending shares of the used-car retailer tumbling. Hindenburg — whose report on companies run by Indian billionaire Gautam Adani led to a federal indictment of the mogul last year — said it took a short position on Carvana after…
Last week, Left’s lawyer said the SEC case against the famed short seller is so unusual that he should be allowed to file a motion to dismiss that spans 10,000 words instead of the court-mandated limit of 7,000. The seemingly mundane request hinted at his defense strategy, including arguing that Left’s often-blistering social media posts about publicly traded companies were…
Short sellers are beefing up disclaimers in their research reports in the clearest signal yet that last month’s criminal charges against Andrew Left are reverberating through the industry. Hindenburg Research and Kerrisdale Capitalboth upped warnings in reports this week in the wake of the charges against Left, who is accused of misleading investors by making quick trades after issuing his…
Because I think the point here is that it’s securities fraud if he deceived people about some material fact. If people went around thinking “I need to be in the same trades Andrew Left,” and he said “I shorted Company X and am still short right this minute and will stay short for months,” and they believed him about his…
It was one of the most impactful short-seller reports ever: Hindenburg Research’s 2023 broadside against the Adani Group erased as much as $153 billion of market value. But it turns out the US short-seller’s gains from the saga were tiny by comparison — just over $4 million. *** The contrast between Hindenburg’s gains and the wider impact underscores how opportune…