Excerpts:
Federal prosecutors have criminally charged the activist short seller and analyst Andrew Leftwith securities fraud related to allegedly using his public platform to illegally profit to the tune of at least $16 million from manipulating stock market activity contrary to positions he presented to the public from 2018 through 2023.
“Left bragged to colleagues that some of these statements [he made] were especially effective at inducing retail investors to trade based on his recommendations and said that it was like taking ‘candy from a baby,’ ” the SEC alleged in that complaint.
The companies identified in the criminal indictment as ones Left allegedly traded on in ways contrary to his public stances on their stock prices included Nvidia, Tesla, the social media company X, formerly known as Twitter, Meta, Roku, Beyond Meat, American Airlines, Palantir, XL Fleet, Invitae, General Electric, Namaste Technologies, and India Globalization Capital.
“In exchange for sharing his planned announcements with the hedge funds in advance of posting them publicly, the hedge funds paid defendant Left a portion of their trading profits,” the indictment says.
“By using the Citron Twitter Account to generate ‘catalysts’ — events with the ability to move stock prices — defendant Left profited from his advance knowledge that he was about to trigger such movements in the market.” After using his influence to manipulate a stock’s price, Left “closed his positions to capitalize on the temporary price movement caused by his public statements,” the indictment alleges.
If convicted, he would face a maximum possible sentence of 25 years in prison for the securities fraud scheme alone.
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/07/26/short-seller-andrew-left-charged-with-fraud-by-prosecutors-sec.html
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