Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Several social media users are circulating a screengrab, claiming that Hindenburg Research, whose report accusing the Adani Group of “brazen stock manipulation” led to a massive market rout of Adani Group stocks, is banned in the US.
According to the viral message, “As a result of the ban, Hindenburg is no longer allowed to conduct securities-related activities in the United States, including publishing research reports.”
The archived versions of the tweets can be seen here and here.
Also read: This Photo Does Not Show Rahul Gandhi With Hindenburg Chief
Fact check
Newschecker ran keyword search for “Hindenburg banned US”, which led us to multiple news reports of the founder of the US-based short seller, Nathan Anderson, debunking the viral claims. The reports can be seen here, here and here.
According to The Hindu Business Line report, dated February 10, 2023, “Nathan Anderson, the founder of Hindenburg Research whose damning report led to a $100 billion-plus rout in Adani Group shares, has said that his firm has never been banned, its bank account never seized and that it is not under any investigation.“
These reports led to a tweet by Anderson, dated February 9, 2023, where he attached a news report from the Wire, “debunking” such “lies”, and said Hindenburg was neither banned nor is under any investigation. “We are banned by FINRA (never); Had bank accounts seized (no); Can’t publish on NYSE-listed co’s (this isn’t a thing); Are under investigation (no),” he said.
According to the viral message, Hindenburg Research was banned from conducting securities-related activities in the US by FINRA in 2021. A relevant keyword search did not lead us to any news report of such a ban. We looked up FINRA’s website and did not find any corresponding result.
We looked up the firm’s website and found a report on Welltower Inc, a healthcare REIT based in Ohio and listed in the New York Stock Exchange, on December 7, 2022, just over a month before the report on Adani Group was published.
Reports on US-listed conglomerate Ebix, US-based Mullen Automotive were also seen, published in June 2022 and April 2022 respectively, contradicting the claim that Hindenburg was banned from conducting securities-related activities in the US, including publishing research reports.
Is Hindenburg under investigation in the US?
The US short seller is reportedly among dozens of prominent firms that are being investigated by the US department of justice (since 2021) for potentially illegal trading tactics.
According to a Mint report, dated February 9, 2023, the probe seeks to establish whether short-sellers used illegal trading tactics to drive down stock prices by sharing damaging research reports ahead of time. According to several media reports from last year, federal prosecutors have seized hardware, trading records and private communications as the investigation continues.
“Both Hindenburg Research and Nate Anderson feature in the DoJ’s requests for information. It is pertinent to note however that the firm has not been accused or charged with any wrongdoing at present,” read the report. A similar article can be seen here.
Conclusion
Newschecker found that Hindenburg Research is not banned in the US.
Result: False
Sources
Tweet by Nate Anderson, February 9, 2023
Hindenburg Research website
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Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
