Short-Seller Andrew Left’s Deleted Tweets Reappear in Fraud Case

Embattled short seller deleted his research firm’s entire tweet history last year to fend off what he described at the time as “class-action attorneys and trolls” looking for dirt in his past stock commentary.

Dozens of deleted tweets are now front and center in the US Justice Department’s indictment accusing Left of manipulating the market to benefit his own trading and lying to investigators.

Prosecutors say the tweets, on the platform now called X, were intended to dupe hundreds of thousands of people who followed Left’s Citron Research account into helping him move the market and reap millions.

“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,” the indictment says.

James Spertus, Left’s lawyer, says it’s “preposterous” that Left’s tweets could move large cap stocks and says they represented his legitimate views.

“Underlying every count in the indictment is the claim that the opinions tweeted were not what he believed, and that’s just not true,” Spertus said. “The misrepresentation here is from the Department of Justice, not Mr. Left.”

Spertus added that the target price for a stock has no relation to the price at which Left personally would close out a short position and assuming a connection is a mistake by the government.

The short seller pleaded not guilty earlier this week in Los Angeles, where he faces decades behind bars if convicted. The case, if it goes to trial, could shine a light on the way short sellers use social media and help draw a line between legitimate commentary and intentional manipulation.

Here are some of the tweets at the center in the indictment:

Early in the morning on Jan. 8, 2019, Left opened short positions in Roku Inc., the maker of TV streaming boxes and software, setting him up to profit if the stock were to fall, prosecutors say. At 9:41 a.m., Left posted on Citron’s Twitter account that Roku was “uninvestible,” according to the indictment. Left soon deleted the tweet and, the US says, “falsely and misleadingly” posted this instead:

Left made at least $700,000 from his Roku trades that morning, prosecutors say.

Left began building a short position in Beyond Meat Inc. in mid-May 2019, according to the indictment. Then, on May 17 at 1:50 p.m., Left ripped into the maker of plant-based meat substitutes on Citron’s Twitter account, as noted in the indictment, mocking the company and predicting it would suffer from a new competitor:

The short seller quickly began closing his position in Beyond Meat in Citron’s trading account, according to prosecutors. Within 12 minutes of posting the tweet, Left sold the $90 put options that expired the same day, the US says.

Left opened short positions in American Airlines Group Inc. in his trading accounts around June 5, 2020, prosecutors say. He also purchased short-dated $19 and $20 put options that expired the same day, as the airline was trading at about $20, according to the indictment. At 11:54 a.m., Left allegedly took to Twitter to blast the airline’s balance sheet:

Left completely closed his pre-tweet trades in the airline by about 12:37 p.m., for a profit of at least $429,000, the US says.

Left began building a short position in Cronos Group Inc. on Aug. 29, 2018, a few days after he wrote to a hedge fund portfolio manager that “we can make money in weed” and “we can DESTROY” Cronos, according to the indictment. On Aug. 30, 2018, at 10:07 a.m., Left used Citron’s Twitter account to post a link to a Citron short report and said:

At the time of the tweet, Cronos was trading at about $11.50 a share. About an hour later, Left used Twitter again to promote his short position on the weed company and upcoming TV appearance, prosecutors say.

Left began closing his short position on Cronos about 24 minutes after posting the first tweet, according to the indictment. By the end of the day, Left had reduced his pre-tweet position in the company by about 61%, the US said. The next day, Left wrote to another person that his commentary was like taking “candy from a baby” because Cronos was popular with retail traders, the US said.

Spertus pointed to Left’s reports, which the tweets link to, saying they included a disclaimer that people shouldn’t trade based on what he says. He added that Left only tweeted or issued reports that include public information.

“He’s the publisher. It’s not inside information,” Spertus said. “It’s discovery from public information that he puts into the marketplace.”

On Oct. 23, 2018, Left took to Twitter to promote his long position on Tesla and included a link to a Citron report on Elon Musk’s electric car maker, which at the time was trading at about $266, according to the indictment:

But within a minute, he placed an order to sell call options for about 120,000 shares — more than half of his pre-tweet position — reaping about $1 million in profit, according to the indictment. By the close of the next trading day, Left sold about 81% of his pre-tweet position for a profit of at least $6.6 million, the US said.

On Nov. 20, 2018, Left allegedly received a message from someone identified only as “Individual C” who asked him if he wanted to “make some fast money” by commenting on Nvidia Corp., according to the indictment. At 10:17 a.m., just after he opened long positions on Nvidia, prosecutors said Left used Citron’s Twitter account to promote the company as a favorable investment.

Despite Left’s assertion that he expected Nvidia’s share price to rise to $165, less than two hours after his announcement about a share purchase, Left allegedly sold all of his pre-tweet positions in his trading accounts. At that point, the company was trading between $150 and $151. He made a profit of at least $930,000, prosecutors say.

On Dec. 26, 2018, Left opened a long position in Facebook, the indictment shows. Prosecutors alleged that two days later, at 9:52 a.m., Left used Citron’s Twitter account to post a link to a positive report on the company’s outlook that downplayed social-media addiction concerns about children:

At the time of the tweet, Facebook’s stock was trading at about $129, the US says. Left allegedly started closing his position in Facebook within hours of posting the tweet, selling about 89% of his shares as the company was trading between $130 and $134. Within two days Left had sold all of his pre-tweet long positions for a profit of at least $680,000, the US says.