Hello and welcome. You are listening to Patrick Boyle on Finance, a podcast exploring ideas from quantitative finance,

examining events occurring in markets right now and financial history to see what lessons can be taken away,

including interviews with some of the most interesting people in the world of finance. To learn more about the podcast, visit onfinance.org.

The SEC announced charges on Friday against the activist short-seller Andrew Left and his firm Citrin Capital

for engaging in an alleged $20 million multi-year scheme to defraud

his followers by publishing false and misleading statements. The SEC itself can't file criminal

charges, but often works with the Justice Department and the US Attorney's Office to bring criminal

charges if needed.

And the Justice Department additionally announced a criminal case against Left,

accusing him of 17 counts of securities fraud, one count of engaging in a securities fraud scheme,

and one count of making false statements to federal investigators.

If convicted, he could potentially face decades in prison.

According to a statement from the Department of Justice, left knowingly 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, the best kind of money.

Now I know my last video was on how pump and dump schemes are now totally legal, but maybe

I was wrong, we'll have to wait and see.

Luckily, I included that disclaimer in the video. Anyhow, these charges stem from an investigation

into illegal trading practices, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal in February

2022, who reported that

the Justice Department had issued search warrants the prior year and seized hardware trading

records and private communications from prominent short sellers, including Carson Block

...