U.S.
Attorney Bill Essayli slammed Citron Research founder Andrew Left on Tuesday, stating, "Short selling is not a crime.
He made misleading statements to move the stock so that he could quickly trade on it for his gain.
In essence, he cheated." In his X post, Essayli said Left was convicted for fraudulently manipulating stock prices through misleading public statements, not for engaging in ordinary short-selling activity.
Essayli emphasized that lawful short selling relies on truthful, good-faith research and market analysis.
