US SEC charges activist short seller and the firm Citron Capital LLC, for engaging in a $20 million multi-year scheme to defraud followers by publishing false and misleading statements regarding his supposed stock trading recommendations

The SEC’s complaint alleges that Left, who resides in Boca Raton, Fl., used his Citron Research website and related social media platforms on at least 26 occasions to publicly recommend taking long or short positions in 23 companies and held out the positions as consistent with his own and Citron Capital’s positions…