U.S. charges short seller Andrew Left of Citron Research in $16 million stock manipulation scheme
CBSN
Prominent short seller Andrew Left, the founder of Citron Research, has been charged by the U.S. Department of Justice with multiple counts of securities fraud for a $16 million stock market manipulation scheme.
The Department of Justice said in a statement on Friday that Left is charged with one count of engaging in a securities fraud scheme, 17 counts of securities fraud and one count of making false statements to federal investigators.
Separately, the SEC charged Left on Friday with a $20 million scheme to defraud his followers by publishing false and misleading statements about his stock trading recommendations. Short sellers like Left make bets stocks will decline in value based on their analysis that a business may have underlying financial problems or simply because they believe the shares are overvalued.
