‘Bounty Hunter of Wall Street’ Says “I Think Crypto Is Just Complete Fraud”

Judging by what he said on Monday (July 11), “activist” short-seller Andrew Left, who founded StockLemon.com (later rebranded to Citron Research) in 2001, is not a fan of crypto.

Citron Research “has been publishing columns for over 17 years, making it one of the longest-running online stock commentary websites.”

Left is “an activist, short seller, author and editor of the online investment newsletter Citron Research, formerly StockLemon.com.” Under the name Citron Research, Left and his investigative team publish r”eports on firms that he claims are overvalued or are engaged in fraud.” He is “known for advising investors on short selling and has often appeared on various media outlets such as CNBC and Bloomberg to talk about his opinions on stocks.”

On 8 June 2017, the New York Times Magazine published an article about Left titled “The Bounty Hunter of Wall Street”.

The report said:

“In the finance world, Left, 46, is what is known as an ‘activist’ short-seller. After he places a bet against the price of a stock, he then publishes research designed to torpedo the company’s value, often by airing accusations of fraud or abuse. This is entirely legal, as long as what he publishes is not itself fraudulent. Left takes short positions in companies across a whole range of industries — Tesla, Valeant, GoPro — and though he makes mistakes, he has an unusually high success rate.“

Yesterday, Reuters reported that when asked at “a conference about fraud in financial markets” where he saw potential fraud, Left told the audience:

“I think crypto is just complete fraud, over and over and over.“

The Reuters report also mentioned that “last year announced his company would stop publishing research highlighting companies’ shortcomings and shift to writing about companies he thought might be worth buying.”

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Featured Image by “JillWellington” via Pixabay.com