(Reuters) – Citron Capital founder and short seller Andrew Left has asked a judge to dismiss a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit that accused him of making millions of dollars by misleading investors with his comments on social media.
Left-wing attorney James Spertus argued in a court filing that the SEC’s case “fails to state a claim because it neither alleges a cognizable theory of fraud nor alleges sufficient facts to support the asserted theory.”
The securities regulator and the U.S. Department of Justice accused Left in July of manipulating the market and defrauding investors with misleading claims about his holdings in multiple stocks, including Nvidia (NASDAQ:) and Tesla (NASDAQ:).
Federal authorities have said Left used his social media platform and cable news appearances to promote his so-called long or short trades, then quickly flipped his positions, making as much as $20 million in the process.
The federal judge in Los Angeles has set the trial against Links for September 30, 2025. The trial against Links would take place in September of this year.
The left, which has pleaded not guilty, has for more than a decade been among the most prominent of a cohort of “short activists” who say they bet against public companies because they are overvalued or guilty of outright fraud.
Left-wing lawyer Spertus and the US SEC did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
