Andrew Left’s Luck Runs Short in $21M Stock Market Manipulation Scheme

After a fifteen-day trial and two days of deliberation, a federal jury in Los Angeles convicted Andrew Left, an activist short seller, of criminal securities fraud for a long-running market manipulation scheme, reaping profits of more than $21 million.He established positions in securities such as Nvidia, Tesla, Meta Platforms, Roku and American Airlines often using short-dated options that would expire as quickly as the same day.He would publish inflammatory or sensationalized market moving reports on social media and television and would profit from the resulting price movement—often within minutes of his remarks. In one email he wrote it was like taking “candy from a baby.”

“Left used his TV appearances to disguise his intentions, manipulate the stock market, and pad his pockets,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli for the Central District of California. “A fair and transparent securities market is a foundation of our nation’s financial system. We will continue to bring to justice individuals who abuse the public trust placed in financial advisors.”

Left, founder of Citron Capital LLC, was a securities analyst, trader, and frequent guest commentator on cable news channels such as CNBC, Fox Business, and Bloomberg TV. As part of his scheme, Left made false and misleading statements — in the form of online posts and public reports — asserting that the market incorrectly valued a company’s stock and advocating that the current price was either too high or too low. Left exploited his ability to move stock prices by targeting stocks popular with retail investors and posting recommendations on social media to manipulate the market and make fast, easy money. 

In anticipation of his public commentary, Left established long or short positions in the company on which he was commenting and quickly closed those positions post-publication, taking profits on the short-term price movement caused by his commentary. In advance of his tweets and reports, Left would enter limit orders to trade in the opposite direction of his public recommendations. Furthermore, Left used his advance knowledge and control over the timing of a market-moving event to build his positions using inexpensive, short-dated options contracts that expired from the same day that he published his commentary to within five days. To further the scheme, Left advanced the false pretense that his investment recommendations were credible because he was independent and free from any financial conflicts of interest.

Left was convicted of one count of participating in a securities fraud scheme and twelve counts of securities fraud. He is scheduled to be sentenced on August 31, 2026 and faces a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison.The SEC’s parallel civil case is still pending.

In the indictment, Andrew was charged with violating 18 U.S. Code Section 1001, lying to federal regulators.As a result of a technical error, this charge was dropped before trial.We note that this very serious charge is often paired with underlying fraud charges and could result in at least a five-year prison term on its own.Martha Stewart was convicted of this crime. She went to prison for lying and obstructing, not for insider trading, as is commonly thought.

Advisers should be extraordinarily careful about anything they say or post to the public or on their publicly available website.During examination, the SEC will frequently ask managers to substantiate any claims made in their marketing materials but especially about any claims made to the public.Even greater care should be given to any remarks that may be perceived as attempting to move the market for a given security, particularly when those remarks may be perceived to be related to well-timed, profitable, short-term trades.