Andrew Edward Left (born July 9, 1970) is an activist short seller, author and editor of the online investment newsletter Citron Research, formerly StockLemon.com.
[6] In 2016, Left was banned for five years by the Hong Kong Market Misconduct Tribunal (chaired by Justice Michael Hartmann) for allegedly disclosing false or misleading information in connection with the publication of a research report on Chinese property developer Evergrande Group, and so inducing transactions under the Securities and Futures Ordinance.
[17][18][19] Left switched to shorting the stocks full-time,[15] using his own research to publish free reports on firms he feels are overvalued or engaged in fraud.
[4][15][23] Left researches and short sells companies he believes to be engaged in fraud, have been suspiciously promoted, or have been mistakenly overpriced by the stock market.
"[31] Citron Research published a report on May 19, 2019, regarding African eCommerce company Jumia, one month after its IPO had resulted in shares values rising about 250 percent.
[35][36][37] Left's 2015 report on Valeant Pharmaceuticals (later known as Bausch Health) accused the company of channel stuffing[38] and using sham transactions to inflate drug sales.
Left's initial report focused on an investigation launched by Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Elijah Cummings that examined Valeant's business model of massively spiking the prices of drugs to which it had acquired marketing rights.
[44][45] In October 2017, Left released a report calling Shopify "a business dirtier than Herbalife", claiming it overstated the amount of merchants using the e-commerce platform and described it as a "get-rich-quick" scheme in contravention of Federal Trade Commission regulations.
[51] This has caused a collective of Chinese business leaders, including Qihoo 360 CEO Zhou Hongyi (a company that has been targeted by Left), to launch a site called CitronFraud.com (no longer operating).
[53] Qihoo 360 has threatened to take legal action against Citron Research, as has former Google China chief Kai-Fu Lee, now the chairman and CEO of Innovation Works.
[60] In 2012, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission commenced proceedings in the Market Misconduct Tribunal against Left, contending that he had spread false and misleading information about Evergrande Group in a report published that year on Citron Research's website.
[66] In 2021, Left's claims were shown to be correct as the Evergrande Group signaled that they will not be able to pay off the interest on $300 billion in liabilities, sparking a global market sell-off.
"[9] On July 25, 2024, prosecutors with the United States Department of Justice issued a 19-count criminal indictment against Left charging securities fraud and lying to federal investigators.
[67] Left allegedly took contrary trading positions to his public recommendations to reap quick profits off the stocks he promoted through Citron.
[13] On July 26, 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a civil lawsuit against Andrew Left and Citron Capital, alleging fraud and illegal manipulation of the stock market.
[68] According to the SEC complaint, he allegedly engaged in a scheme that involved making public recommendations contrary to his private trading positions which netted him $20-million in illicit gains between 2018 and 2023.
[13][69] The SEC also accused that Left shared his planned announcements with at least two hedge funds in advance, receiving a portion of their trading profits in return.