Citron Research founder Andrew Left was found guilty by a U.S. federal jury of using misleading social media posts and public commentary to manipulate stock prices tied to his own trading positions, and now faces up to 25 years in prison. Left had repeatedly targeted Shopify, accusing it in 2017 of running a “get-rich-quick scheme” akin to Herbalife and sending its stock down more than 12%, which prompted CEO Tobi Lütke to call him a “short-selling troll.” He also took aim at Tesla, Nvidia, Meta, and cannabis distributor Cronos over the years. Legal experts expect the ruling to reverberate across Wall Street's activist-investing community, potentially making short sellers and other market commentators more cautious.
