Hindenburg Research Involved In Securities Fraud Along With Anson Funds, Says Report

The now-shut Hindenburg Research, led by Nate Anderson, was involved in "securities fraud" along with Canada's Anson Funds, according to a report published by the Market Frauds portal.

The publishers claimed that they have accessed documents that were filed before a court in Ontario, where Anson is facing a defamation lawsuit. The documents allegedly revealed that Hindenburg colluded with Anson while preparing a report.

The preparation of bearish reports without disclosure of participation can be charged as securities fraud by the US Securities and Exchange Commission under Sections 17(a) and 17(b) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, Market Frauds said.

This comes nearly a month after Bloomberg reported that Moez Kassam, the head of Anson hedge fund, disclosed in a deposition that he shared his research "with a wide variety of sources".

Kassam, according to the news agency, believed that he shared the research with some of the top names in the world of short-selling, including Hindenburg's Nate Anderson.

Hindenburg had, while reacting to the Bloomberg report published on Dec. 12, said it receives "hundreds of leads each year from diverse sources", but it maintains independence over the publishing of its reports.

"We rigorously vet each lead and have always maintained full editorial independence over our work," it had stated.

According to Market Frauds portal, the documents it accessed from Ontario's court contradict Hindenburg's claim of editorial independence.

"We know for a fact, from the email conversations between Anderson and Anson Funds, that he was indeed working for Anson and published whatever they told him to, from the price target to what should and shouldn’t be in the report. He asked them multiple times if they needed 'more'. From what we can see in the dozens of exchanges, at no time did he have editorial control. He was being told what to publish," the website claimed.

Market Frauds also shared screenshots of some email interactions—which it claims to have accessed through the documents available with the Ontario court—between Hindenburg and Anson to support its charge.

Here's a look at a couple of the screenshots shared by Market Frauds:

Anson Funds could be facing regulatory action for "orchestrating a short campaign while simultaneously purchasing the stock to cover its shorts", Market Frauds said, while adding that the "regulators can 100% charge Anderson for fraud as the publisher". The action could be initiated in the year 2025, it further said.