Andrew Left, the outspoken founder of Citron Research, was convicted on June 1 of securities fraud on 13 of 17 counts. His legal team wasted no time filing a motion for mistrial four days later, arguing that clerical errors in the jury instructions tainted the verdict.
The judge hasn’t ruled on that motion yet. Left, meanwhile, faces sentencing on August 31, where the maximum penalty stretches to 25 years in prison.
The ‘tweet-and-trade’ playbook
Federal prosecutors alleged that Left ran a straightforward scheme. He’d make splashy public recommendations on stocks, then trade against those very positions for personal profit.
Left allegedly made 26 public recommendations covering 23 different companies. On average, each of those recommendations moved the stock price by more than 12%.
