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Or sign-in if you have an account.Prosecutors accuse Andrew Left of using explosive social-media posts about dozens of companies to illegally move their stock and make a quick profit. Photo by James Jackman/BloombergCitron Research founder Andrew Left coordinated with hedge funds on stocks he planned to short and bragged his “hot voice” with retail investors meant they could “take candy from a baby,” according to emails presented at his criminal trial on United States securities fraud charges.Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Exclusive articles from Barbara Shecter, Joe O'Connor, Gabriel Friedman, and others.Daily content from Financial Times, the world's leading global business publication.Unlimited online access to read articles from Financial Post, National Post and 15 news sites across Canada with one account.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword.Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Exclusive articles from Barbara Shecter, Joe O'Connor, Gabriel Friedman and others.Daily content from Financial Times, the world's leading global business publication.Unlimited online access to read articles from Financial Post, National Post and 15 news sites across Canada with one account.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one account.Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.Enjoy additional articles per month.Get email updates from your favourite authors.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one accountShare your thoughts and join the conversation in the commentsEnjoy additional articles per monthGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an AccountorIn August 2018, Left told Sunny Puri at Anson Advisors Inc. that smaller retail stocks were best for taking short positions and recommended doing so with Canadian cannabis distributor Cronos Group Inc., according to messages the FBI collected from Left’s iPhone and Telegram account that were shown to jurors Thursday in Los Angeles federal court.“I have a hot voice in cannabis let’s take advantage of it,” Left said in one exchange.Get the latest headlines, breaking news and columns.By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.The next issue of Top Stories will soon be in your inbox.We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try againDays later, Left published a report recommending investors short Cronos, and the shares plunged. Afterward, Left told Puri that the stock was mostly held by retail investors, and “now that I know who owns it, candy from a baby.”Prosecutors accuse Left, 55, of using explosive social-media posts about dozens of companies to illegally move their stock and make a quick profit. He denies wrongdoing. The trial is putting a spotlight on the short-selling industry, where Left is one of the most prominent players.The messages presented to jurors Thursday showed Left and Puri deliberated about whether to go long on one stock or short another — Cronos — which Puri said he found interesting. Later, Puri sent Left a draft of a short report on Citron’s letterhead, with a price target of target of US$7.50, below where it was trading at around US$12.Coordination by hedge funds and researchers has long irked company executives and sympathetic policymakers who worry that such firms could also place parallel bets, putting more downward pressure on stock prices they deem overvalued. While such behaviour can be perfectly legal, short sellers tend to keep it secret, especially as companies have increasingly responded to research with litigation and as regulators poke around.The U.S. Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission have been investigating for years whether some practices with short sellers amount to market manipulation.Earlier in the day, jurors heard from two individual investors who testified how their savings had been affected by Left’s reports urging people to short cannabis stocks.Adam Gray, a car salesman from Ohio, testified about his experience trading stocks when Left issued his short on Cronos.Gray said that as a retail investor he followed Left’s tweets and reports closely, but was spooked by the 2018 report about Cronos, which he said triggered a wider selloff of cannabis stocks.“I got scared,” said Gray, who owned cannabis stocks other than Cronos. Later Thursday, another investor said that a Left report made him terrified.Left said in the 2018 report that Cronos was overvalued. Gray said he filed a complaint with the SEC because he felt that Left didn’t mention Cronos had obtained additional land to grow cannabis.“I felt like the most important thing about Cronos was left out, and I feel like it should have been put in there,” he said.The prosecution played a clip of a podcast where Left was talking about his bets on cannabis stocks — a day after the report saying he was short on Cronos. “It’s all retail investors that had no business being in the stock market,” Left said about cannabis company stocks broadly.“It moves so fast you have to trade the stock and then read the report,” Left said on the podcast.Gray said he contacted the SEC about Left following the interview.After Gray, Billy Banks, a firefighter from Dallas, took the stand to talk about how he was burned by Left’s reports in the years before he was considering retirement.He said after research on message boards and TV shows, he invested in cannabis-related stocks including CV Sciences Inc. and a Canadian company that was then known as Namaste Technologies Inc.He said he bought CV Sciences at US$4.25 a share and things were looking up, until a Left commentary knocked the price down.“We got back from vacation and it had dropped by 50 per cent,” Banks said. “Everyone on the boards had the same identical message that was influenced by Left’s commentary.”Banks said he lost around US$80,000 on the stock. The scenario played out again with his investment in Namaste. He saw Left on television saying that he had shorted Namaste and calling cannabis companies frauds.Banks said he was terrified. “I saw my funds going to zero,” Banks said, adding that he sold the shares at an 85 per cent loss.“I thought he would keep his short open until he went to zero so I had to cut my losses,” Banks said. “Even though I believed in the company, but I couldn’t justify holding on.” Join the Conversation This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.