Short-Seller Andrew Left Charged With Fraud!

The activist short seller Andrew Left surrendered to authorities in Los Angeles on Monday to face federal criminal securities fraud charges, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office there said.

Both the SEC and a federal grand jury in the Central District of California brought charges against Andrew Left a prominent activist short seller with multiple counts of securities fraud for a long-running market manipulation scheme reaping profits of at least $20 million.

As alleged in the indictment, Left commented on publicly traded companies, asserting that the market incorrectly valued a company’s stock and advocating that the current price was too high or too low. Left’s recommendations often included an explicit or implicit representation about Citron’s trading position—which the regulators claim created the false pretense that Left’s economic incentives aligned with his public recommendation—and a “target price,” which Left represented as his valuation of the company’s stock. Left is accused of working with hedge funds to short and distort stock prices.

Andrew Left became well known in 2021 as one of the hedge funds short GameStop stock.

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[thealkymyst]

This makes sense. Pump and Dump is clearly legal, but Distort and Short (the opposite) is illegal. It all adds up.

[wb]

"They tend to lose about 10% per year which is not really what you want." If you were a vermouth you would make a hell of a dry martini.

[Ikbeneengeit]

So "pump-and-dump" is legal, but "bash-and-cash" is illegal.

[robertplatt]

Postmen? Land lines? Does Patrick also still have a milkman?

[kevinquinn]

So when is the SEC coming for Jim Cramer?

[LordHollow]

Lol. That postman is gonna get an earful and never ask you anything, ever again.

[edwardloomis]

OK, I'll bite: the "false statement to a postal inspector" wasn't telling the mail carrier (Cliff Clavin at 12:56) you're having a good day when your day sucks. The U.S. Postal Inspectors are perhaps one of the most obscure federal law enforcement branches. Their primary focus is nailing people who use the mail to commit crimes, or people who commit crimes to steal the mail. Many of those crimes are federal offenses, and USPI agents own them. These guys and gals wear suits or at least ties, not faded gray uniforms. They also don't screw around. When people were using senior citizens' social security numbers to file false tax returns that were mailed to addresses in Florida in the early 2010s, two law enforcement agencies fought them: IRS Criminal Investigators (the people who got Capone) and U.S. Postal Inspectors. I met some of the latter group about ten years ago. I was impressed.

[luckylanno]

I don't like how vague this seems from the SEC's side. Being able to retroactively make up what is effectively a law is a problem. If a public analyst needs to have a holding period or not trade at all, then they should make that rule and use it going forward.

[bonwatcher]

Your disclaimer may not protect you... but mostly because the font was way too large, legible and distinct. Real disclaimers are nowhere near as readable.

[mamoswim]

he can just say he didnt care about his followers?

[aenorist]

But ... but Pump and Dump is legal!
You are telling me there is one law for the bullish mode and one law for "short & trash" on the bearinsh side?

[ReneSchickbauer]

"False and misleading statements"... ah, yes, the modern expression is "Google Ads" ;-)

[alexg]

the SEC yeah you know me! or is that not the song? 😂😂🤣🤣 Keep up the good videos Patrick.

[Chronicheaven]

Thank you for my weekly insider scoop into the latest hip hop News from the streetz from a real insider like you 🎙️

[jeskaaable]

Cathy Wood is always spectacular in her hubristic display of incompetence.

[qwaszxerdfcvtyghvb]

1k watching, you deserve more Patrick 🎉🎉🎉

[krozareq]

I'm not a bot and this is not a comment simply here to help Patrick Boyle in the algorithm.

[AlexMax]

I was under the impression that short sellers weren't necessarily good or bad, but a natural outcome of a market - something you just put up with because you can't really prevent it. Your positive framing of short sellers at the start of the video was super interesting to me - looking at it from an angle I had never appreciated before - and has given me food for thought. Thanks for another awesome video!

[alexcoventry]

That "what is short selling" splash screen was so fast that I suspected you of trying some kind of subliminal advertising!

[andrews]

It’s wild how every example ends with, “well, yeah, he was completely correct in his recommendations”