The Short-Selling Hedge Fund Manager Walking Free While Accomplice Sits in Prison | Disruption Banking
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The Short-Selling Hedge Fund Manager Walking Free While Accomplice Sits in Prison
Tim Tolka
July 16, 2026
On June 2, a federal jury in Los Angeles found Andrew Left guilty of securities fraud, with prosecutors proving he used his Citron Research platform and cable-news celebrity to move stocks and pocket at least $21 million.<br>Shortly after Disruption Banking’s article ran, a tip arrived in Disruption Banking’s inbox. It read, in part:<br>“Left is guilty of the crimes the DOJ charged him with, but he was merely a pawn. The bigger story (that hasn’t been told yet) is who he was working for. For over a decade, Left has been working for Moez Kassam of Anson Funds. Where Left made $20 million, Anson made hundreds of millions. This is also tied into Nate Anderson of Hindenburg Research who also worked for Anson Funds.”
According to the bio on his website, Moez Kassam is a Toronto -based Hedge FundA hedge fund is an investment fund that trades in highly liquid investments to make use of complex algorithmic, quantitative and derivatives strategies. Because of their complex techniques and being prone to significant swings in value, they are used primarily by high net worth individuals and institutional investors. The name is derived from 'to hedge' (coined in the 1920's USA bull market) of 'covering' one's speculative position to avoid sharp losses." href="https://www.disruptionbanking.com/Fintech Glossary/hedge-fund/" data-gt-translate-attributes='[{"attribute":"data-cmtooltip", "format":"html"}]' tabindex='0' role='link'>hedge fund manager, venture capitalist, and entrepreneur, pictured holding a crystal ball and wearing a collared shirt and a smirk. He is co-founder and Chief Investment Officer of Anson Funds , which is based in Dallas, Texas. He saw fit to mention various philanthropic activities and “infamous” dinner parties.<br>Why would a multi-billion-dollar Hedge FundA hedge fund is an investment fund that trades in highly liquid investments to make use of complex algorithmic, quantitative and derivatives strategies. Because of their complex techniques and being prone to significant swings in value, they are used primarily by high net worth individuals and institutional investors. The name is derived from 'to hedge' (coined in the 1920's USA bull market) of 'covering' one's speculative position to avoid sharp losses." href="https://www.disruptionbanking.com/Fintech Glossary/hedge-fund/" data-gt-translate-attributes='[{"attribute":"data-cmtooltip", "format":"html"}]' tabindex='0' role='link'>hedge fund that paid for and sat behind the short reports be spared by the Department of Justice? If anything, prosecutors should have used Left, the minor co-conspirator, to target Anson and Kassam, the bigger fish.<br>Regulators found that they even used trading profits to pay for them and disguised the payments with fake invoices. Heavy stuff, but somehow they haven’t been criminally charged.<br>Hedge Fund A<br>In Left’s indictment, there was a “Hedge FundA hedge fund is an investment fund that trades in highly liquid investments to make use of complex algorithmic, quantitative and derivatives strategies. Because of their complex techniques and being prone to significant swings in value, they are used primarily by high net worth individuals and institutional investors. The name is derived from 'to hedge' (coined in the 1920's USA bull market) of 'covering' one's speculative position to avoid sharp losses." href="https://www.disruptionbanking.com/Fintech Glossary/hedge-fund/" data-gt-translate-attributes='[{"attribute":"data-cmtooltip", "format":"html"}]' tabindex='0' role='link'>Hedge Fund A” that paid Left through a third-party intermediary, received his bearish publications in advance, shorted the target stocks before publication, and covered after prices fell. Hmm… guess who that was?<br>Six weeks earlier, the SEC had already told the market who it was, in everything but name. The Commission settled charges against Dallas -based Anson Funds Management and other entities behind the roughly $2.9 billion Anson Investments Master Fund .<br>According to the SEC’s order, Anson’s flagship fund used a short strategy that involved working with activist short publishers, trading around the publication of their reports. and paying the publishers a share of the fund’s trading profits. Not good. Definitely illegal.<br>Institutional Investor and Hedgeweek both identified the unnamed publisher as Andrew Left, whose Citron Research published precisely those two companies in exactly that window.<br>Anson settled without admitting or denying the findings, paying...