Andrew Left’s New Lawyer Says Case Doesn’t Fit Trump Priorities

Short seller Andrew Left is making a new push to sway the US Justice Department to drop fraud charges filed against him last year, hiring a former federal prosecutor to make fresh arguments directly to the Trump administration.

The strategy hinges on convincing the Justice Department that the case against Left isn’t in line with President Donald Trump’s enforcement priorities. It’s an argument that could gain traction with a department that has already dropped some criminal cases as a result of the president’s directives.

Left, whose stock tips were closely watched by thousands of investors, was charged with securities fraud in July 2024 following a wide-ranging probe into the industry. He and his firm, Citron Research, are accused of using false and misleading social-media posts about his trading plans in more than a dozen companies to nudge their stock up or down enough to make a quick profit.

Left’s new lead lawyer, Eric Rosen, said the veteran trader is “heartened” by what he describes as the Trump administration’s investor protection priorities. “Because of that, we are continuing to engage with administration officials on the hopes that they will re-evaluate this case, consistent with the directives of the president,” he said in a statement.

Left has pleaded not guilty, denied wrongdoing in the case and moved to have the case dismissed. “There was no fraud, no deception, no victim — just protected speech followed by lawful trading,” Rosen said. A hearing is set for July 7 in federal court in Los Angeles.

Court filings this week show Left replaced his lead defense attorney with Rosen, a seasoned former prosecutor. The founding partner of Dynamis LLP, Rosen is known for leading one of the biggest DOJ criminal cases of the past decade — the so-called Varsity Blues college admissions case — before going into private practice.

Rosen has been working on the case for several months but is now calling the shots. 

Trump has already stepped in to help individuals in financial cases since he took office in January. In March, Trump commuted the sentence of Ozy Media co-founder Carlos Watson, who was convicted of lying to investors in his startup. Trump also pardoned Nikola Corp. founder Trevor Milton, convicted of fraud over misrepresentations about the electric-truck maker’s financial progress, as well as the three co-founders of the crypto exchange BitMex who pleaded guilty in 2022 to violating the Bank Secrecy Act.

The Justice Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the case.

As of February, the Justice Department was continuing to press its case. In response to Left’s motion to dismiss, prosecutors said in a court filing that Left had “engaged in a classic securities fraud scheme.”

“He provided false and misleading information to investors, while hiding his true intentions so he could profit at their expense,” the US said.

The indictment relies heavily on Left’s social-media posts, as well as emails about the effects of his commentary. Prosecutors pointed to those posts in urging the judge to let the case proceed to trial.

A judge last month denied Left’s request to dismiss a parallel civil suit by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. In both cases, Left is accused of setting “extreme” target prices for companies in hopes that investors who saw his posts would trade one way while he traded another. The case has already led to some self-imposed changes in the industry as a number of short sellers beefed up their disclaimers in response to the charges.

Rosen hopes the government will set the record straight on Left’s activity and drop the charges the way it recently ended a long-running foreign bribery case against former executives at Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. before trial, citing Trump’s new priorities.

“The case against Andrew Left merits reconsideration,” Rosen said.

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