Activist short-seller Nathan Anderson, known for his high-profile campaigns against the likes of Adani Group, said he is closing his firm, Hindenburg Research, not because of any threat — legal or otherwise — and that he stands by all its reports.

Mr. Anderson told PTI that Hindenburg’s January 2023 report accusing Adani Group of “the largest con in corporate history” was a result of following “red flags” raised against the conglomerate in media reports.

Adani group had repeatedly denied all allegations in the report.

He termed as “goofy conspiracy” the attempts by some to link Hindenburg with alleged anti-India groups like OCCRP and George Soros, saying his outlet never commented on them as it followed the policy of not feeding into “silly conspiracy theories”.

Mr. Anderson, who came to be known for meticulously detailed reports against companies he alleged were committing fraud, last month announced shutting down his forensic research firm nearly eight years after he founded it.

Also read: Hindenburg Research | With an eye for fraud

Asked why he chose to shut down Hindenburg when he could have stepped back and passed on the reins of the company to someone else, he said there is “no way to separate me from the brand”. “Hindenburg is basically synonymous with me,” he said. “If it was a software application or a bicycle factory you can sell the application or the factory. But when it’s research driven by me, you can’t really just hand that off, and so I would not actually be ‘done’. But I am happy to support the team if they want to launch a new brand, which I expect they will.” Mr. Anderson, who first shot to fame with a report against electric truck company Nikola and had gone after the companies of major financial figures, including Carl Icahn’s Icahn Enterprises LP, had last month blamed the “intensity and focus” of the job for the decision to wind up.

He had spent much of the last eight years either in fights or preparing for the next fight. Many times during this period, he was often trailed and attempts were made to infiltrate his system.

“As to why I retired — it is all in the letter [released on January 16 that announced shutting down of Hindenburg] — it is not based on any threat, health issue, personal issue or otherwise,” he said.

Conspiracies theories like being on the verge of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice and/or U.S. SEC to “concoct a counter-narrative about my retirement is a great example of why I am happy to instead be enjoying more time with family, friends and good music”, he said.

Hindenburg has said it is not under investigation by the U.S. SEC over anonymous reports linking its founder to a hedge fund for preparing reports targeting companies.

Asked if he stood by Hindenburg reports particularly against the Adani group, Mr. Anderson said, “We 100% stand by all of our research findings.” Hindenburg had alleged that Adani Group had used a web of companies in tax havens to inflate its revenue and manipulate stock prices, even as debt piled up. The conglomerate vehemently denied all claims but the damning report at one point sheared over $150 billion off its value, losses it eventually recouped in over a year’s time.

The issue was agitated before the Supreme Court which did not find any need for a probe other than the one market regulator SEBI had initiated into certain issues prior to the Hindenburg report.

Also read: Allegations and scandals against the Adani Group: A timeline

On some seeing the Hindenburg report as against India and its growth story, Mr. Anderson said, “We have always believed in India’s potential and view market transparency and strong corporate governance as key factors that can fuel India’s growth story.” He did not elaborate.

“We initially saw media articles outlining red flags, took a closer look, and just kept following the evidence,” he said on why Adani group was chosen.

On allegations of being in cohorts with OCCRP and George Soros, he said, “Of course not, but we have a policy of not feeding into silly conspiracy theories. When the main response to 100+ pages of evidence [presented in the report against Adani Group] is a goofy conspiracy, we view it as a sign that we were right on the mark.” Asked about the response of regulatory bodies in India to Hindenburg reports, he said, “We view our role as researching and writing about issues in need of transparency. The rest is out of our hands.”

He dismissed allegations of sharing reports with hedge funds, saying, “We have always maintained full editorial control over all of our research.” “As we and many other U.S.-based short sellers have discussed in public interviews for years, our model involves investing our own capital and sometimes also bringing on a balance sheet partner. This is one of the most common business models in our industry, it is fully compliant with all applicable laws, and we disclose this in our reports,” he added.

The 40-something son of a university professor and a nurse, Nathan (Nate) Anderson on January 15 issued a personal note that Hindenburg Research was being wound up after it “finished the pipeline of ideas we were working on”. The Connecticut man, who worked for 10 months as an ambulance driver in Israel, studied international business, finance, and accounting, managed money for the rich, believed he could make money by exposing corporate corruption.

Hindenburg, founded in 2017, placed bets against the companies it was researching. And it made money when stock prices of its targets tumbled on disclosure of fraud and other abuses that it unearthed through deep forensic financial research.

It, however, made surprisingly little money — just over $4 million — from the report on billionaire Gautam Adani’s sprawling business empire in January 2023.

That figure, disclosed for the first time by Hindenburg on its website last year, along with details of a letter it said it had received from India’s markets regulator, SEBI.

Mr. Anderson appears to be wanting to move on, having achieved what he and his colleagues wanted. “We shook some empires that we felt needed shaking,” he wrote in a personal memo last month.

But, this did take a toll on him. “It has come at the cost of missing a lot of the rest of the world and the people I care about,” he had written. “It wasn’t always obvious to me, but I now view all of this as a love story.” Hindenburg’s research has led to fraud charges and indictments against dozens of individuals, but has also resulted in expensive legal battles. The firm had just 11 employees.

Its last published report was on online car retailer Carvana earlier this year.

New Delhi:

Senior lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani has punctured US short seller Hindenburg Research’s chief Nate Anderson over his announcement that he would wind up the firm. Mr Anderson said the work took a toll on him as it was “rather intense and at times all-encompassing”.

Hindenburg targeted the Adani Group in a case that is now seen as an attack on the ‘India Story’.

“Frankly speaking, I don’t know how old Mr Anderson is, but the fact of the matter is that he’s not had some sterling results. His claim to fame really rests on the Adani hit job, which he was part of. I don’t think he’s done other serious work or businesses of note. So, he is essentially a research analyst,” Mr Jethmalani told NDTV.

One of the reasons for winding up Hindenburg, Mr Anderson said, was it completed the projects it was handling. The announcement comes just days before President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration event. There is speculation Hindenburg is disbanding to avoid a possible India-US joint investigation.

“I really don’t know his exact line of business. He is a research analyst who provides reports to people, or he is hired by people who need to bear-hammer a few shares for profiteering. In this case, of course, he became a little larger than life because he took on one of the biggest industries in India, which for a couple of days caused serious economic turbulence in the country,” Mr Jethmalani said.

Mr Anderson’s allegations led to panic among investors and wiped out more than $150 billion in the value of the Adani Group shares at their lowest point. A lot of that was money from small-time investors, men and women who put in their hard-earned savings. And now Mr Anderson says ‘I am off, I am done.’

How does one ensure accountability?

“As far as India is concerned, SEBI is on the job. The problem is that this man doesn’t live in India. He is presumably a US national. Now, if he is a US national, all the best we can do is seek the cooperation of the government. But the last government, the ‘Democratic deep state’ as we call it, were hand in glove with this man through the [George] Soros connection,” Mr Jethmalani told NDTV, referring to an investigation by the capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

“Soros is the biggest financial contributor to the coffers of the Democratic party and has an overwhelming say in their policies, particularly the economic policies. Now, Soros is known for his anti-India and particularly anti-PM Modi government stand. So, there is not much you can do except now hope that – and I suspect – that the Trump administration may already have started some kind of a probe which led to this man winding up his company,” the senior lawyer said.

“Having said that, whatever aid we can get from the Trump administration, which will be a lot more friendlier to the Indian government on this issue as well, we should undoubtedly invoke that help, and see that this man is brought to justice along with all the others whom he connived with,” Mr Jethmalani added.

Earlier today, another senior lawyer, Mukul Rohatgi, described Hindenburg as a “dubious organisation”. Mr Rohatgi, who is also the former Attorney General for India, told NDTV Hindenburg had been constantly attacking the Indian economy and a company, shaking the confidence of the Indian markets and “affecting the investments of millions of people.”

“Look, I don’t think anybody could accept or, you know, find out anything more about a dubious organisation, an organisation which says that they are short sellers. They say that they are out to create havoc in share markets… And I think they have realised that it is a shoot and scoot policy,” Mr Rohatgi told NDTV.

“And therefore, they want to just close down because they don’t want to face any investigation, either in India or the US or any other jurisdiction. And maybe they fear that when President Trump takes over, he may look into the complaints filed by Indian bodies and industrial houses or Indian government entities,” the senior lawyer said. “Therefore, the idea is to shut shop and run away.”

He said Hindenburg will have to face investigation somehow.

“The people who are behind this dubious organisation, they will certainly be liable and they can certainly be tracked down wherever they are. And they must face the heat and face the action,” Mr Rohatgi said.

The matter had turned political with the Congress and other Opposition parties seeking a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe into the Hindenburg report, despite India’s institutions and the Supreme Court completely dismissing Hindenburg’s “findings”.

Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani at the annual general meeting in June said the group “faced baseless accusations made by a foreign short seller that questioned our decades of hard work.”

“In the face of an unprecedented attack on our integrity and reputation, we fought back and proved that no challenge could weaken the foundations on which your Group has been established,” he said.

Hindenburg Research, the US-based short seller that had targeted several business entities including the Adani Group, is going to be disbanded, founder Nate Anderson has said.

“I have made the decision to disband Hindenburg Research. The plan has been to wind up after we finished the pipeline of ideas we were working on,” he said in a note on the Hindenburg website.

In an announcement that comes days before Donald Trump takes office, Anderson has also clarified there has been no particular threat or personal issue behind this decision to wind up.

Hindenburg targeted the Adani Group in 2022 with what the group said was “nothing but a lie” and were “calculated attacks on India”. The Supreme Court, too, had given a clean chit to the Adani Group with analysts and experts calling out the 

In August 2024, the short-seller launched another attack on the energy-to ports conglomerate, which snubbed the charges as “recycled claims” that had earlier been discarded.

Speaking about the short seller hit jobs a month later, Gautam Adani, the chairman of Adani Group, had said it taught him the “most profound lesson”.

“Our leadership spirit was never more visible than during the financial market attack in January last year. It was a short-selling attack initiated from abroad. This was not a typical financial strike. It was a dual assault targeting our financial stability and pulling us into a political storm. It was a calculated move,” he had said.

The short seller had also targeted Indian markets regulator chief Madhavi Puri Buch and her husband in the past, who had called it an “attempt at character assassination”.

(Disclaimer: New Delhi Television is a subsidiary of AMG Media Networks Limited, an Adani Group Company.)

Hindenburg Research founder Nathan ‘Nate’ Anderson. File
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

U.S. investment group Hindenburg Research will be disbanded, its founder Nate Anderson said Wednesday, adding that it has completed the projects it was handling.

Founded in 2017 as a kind of corporate muckraker, the short- seller with around 10 employees has pushed several companies to admit accounting errors or misrepresentations.

The company has wiped billions of dollars off companies’ market values, including Indian conglomerate Adani Group after the research firm accused it of “brazen” corporate fraud.

Hindenburg’s biggest success came against telectric truck maker Nikola, which it accused in 2020 of lying about the status of its technology.

“The plan has been to wind up after we finished the pipeline of ideas we were working on,” Anderson said Wednesday.

“And as of the last Ponzi cases we just completed and are sharing with regulators, that day is today,” he added.

Anderson estimates that almost 100 people have been charged civilly or criminally by regulators “at least in part through our work, including billionaires and oligarchs.”

“We shook some empires that we felt needed shaking,” he said.

Looking ahead, Anderson plans to come up with a series of materials and videos “to open-source every aspect of our model and how we conduct our investigations” over the next six months.

In the case of Nikola, it agreed to pay $125 million to the US Securities and Exchange Commission and its founder, Trevor Milton, was found criminally guilty of misleading his company’s shareholders.

The Adani Group lost $150 billion from its market value in 2023 after Hindenburg’s report accused it of fraud.

In the wake of the latest allegations made by US short-seller Hindenburg Research, legal expert and Senior Advocate Harish Salve has warned that giving credence to organisations like that will lead to them questioning India’s judiciary one day.

Here Are Five Points On This Big Story:

New Delhi:

In the Centre’s first reaction to the latest report released by Hindenburg Research, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju has said that the Congress and some of its allies want to destroy the country. The principal opposition party and others, he said, could not win the elections and are now aligning with anti-India forces.

On Saturday, Hindenburg Research, which is a US-based short-seller, released a report claiming that Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband, Dhaval, had a stake in offshore entities used in alleged financial wrongdoing by the Adani Group.

When he was asked about the report and the allegations made by the Congress, Mr Rijiju said on Monday, “We have to understand that there are many forces, both inside and outside the country, who are against India and work against it. We have to recognise them. The people who are playing games to hurt India’s ascent as an economic power… I feel that the Congress and some of its allies want to destroy the country. They could not defeat Prime Minister Narendra Modi because the country is standing with him.”

“Elections have taken place and a new government has been formed under PM Modi. They could not win the elections and they are working with anti-India forces to ensure that India suffers a loss. They will never be successful because the people of India have realised who the anti-India forces are,” Mr Rijiju, who holds the Minority Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs portfolios, added. 

Earlier on Monday, BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad took a similar stance and said the Congress is involved in creating economic instability and anarchy against India.

“After losing (the Lok Sabha elections) for a third time, the Congress and its closest ‘toolkit’ allies now want to make the Indian economy unstable. Congress today has developed hatred against India. What Congress wants is to bring back ‘control Raj'” Mr Prasad said.

The BJP leader also stressed that India is a safe, stable and promising market. 

‘Character Assassination’

Madhabi and Dhaval Buch have accused Hindenburg Research of attempting a character assassination of the SEBI chairperson.

“Hindenburg has been served a show cause notice for a variety of violations in India. It is unfortunate that instead of replying to the show cause notice, they have chosen to attack the credibility of SEBI and attempt character assassination of the SEBI Chairperson,” the couple said in a statement. 

The Adani Group has also said Hindenburg Research has made “recycled claims”.

“For a discredited short-seller under the scanner for several violations of Indian securities laws, Hindenburg’s allegations are no more than red herrings thrown by a desperate entity with total contempt for Indian laws,” the group said in an exchange filing.

(Disclaimer: New Delhi Television is a subsidiary of AMG Media Networks Limited, an Adani Group Company.)

Photo used for representation purpose only.

Indian REITs Association on Monday (August 12, 2024) said that claims made by the US-based short seller Hindenburg Research suggesting that the REIT framework made by markets regulator SEBI serves the interests of a select few are “baseless and misleading”.

In fact, the association has commended SEBI and its leadership for crafting a “rigorous regulatory environment” that includes comprehensive periodic reporting requirements, mandatory independent valuations, and strict governance standards.

These measures are designed to enhance transparency and protect investor interests, it added.

The statement came after the Hindenburg report on Saturday (August 10, 2024) alleged that recent amendments to SEBI’s REIT Regulations 2014 were made to benefit a specific multinational financial conglomerate. In this regard, the markets regulator stated that SEBI (REIT) Regulations, 2014 has been amended from time to time.

In a statement, the association said that since the introduction of REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) regulations in 2014, India has established a strong and transparent regulatory framework that aligns with global best practices.

“Developed in consultation with all market participants, this framework ensures the highest levels of investor protection for both –domestic and international institutional investors, as well as retail investors,” it said.

Hindenburg Research on Saturday (August 10, 2024) launched a broadside against market regulator Sebi chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch, alleging she and her husband had stakes in obscure offshore funds used in the alleged Adani money siphoning scandal.

Sebi chairperson Buch and her husband Dhaval denied the allegations as baseless and asserted their finances are an open book. Her husband Dhaval Buch is a senior advisor with Blackstone.

The Adani Group termed the latest allegations malicious and based on manipulation of select public information.

The company said it has no commercial relationship with the Sebi chairperson or her husband.

Indian REITs Association, which counts Brookfield India Real Estate Trust, Embassy Office Parks REIT, Mindspace Business Parks REIT, and Nexus Select Trust — as their founding members, said that the sector’s growth has drawn significant interest and participation from prominent global institutional investors.

These investors’ participation not only strengthens the trust and credibility of India’s financial system but also provides investors with a dependable and transparent avenue to engage in the country’s expanding real estate market.

Currently, there are four listed REITs on the Indian stock exchanges, collectively managing assets worth over ₹1.4 lakh crore and serving over 2.4 lakh crore unitholders. These REITs have distributed over ₹18,000 crore, with the market capitalisation of the asset class reaching about ₹80,000 crore.

New Delhi:

The Congress “wants the Indian stock market to crash” the BJP’s Ravi Shankar Prasad said Monday as the ruling party continues to hit back at the opposition over short-seller Hindenburg Research’s latest allegations of financial misconduct against the Adani Group. The former Union Law Minister also claimed the Congress is “involved in creating economic anarchy” and “hatred against India”.

(Disclaimer: New Delhi Television is a subsidiary of AMG Media Networks Limited, an Adani Group Company.)

Madhabi Puri Buch, chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). File
| Photo Credit: PTI

Reacting to the Buchs’ rebuttal of their report red-flagging their investments in obscure offshore funds linked to the Adani group and ownership of consulting firms in Singapore and India, Hindenburg Research in a series of posts on X said the clarification contains several important ‘admissions’, raises fresh questions and confirms a ‘massive conflict of interest’.

“Buch’s response now publicly confirms her investment in an obscure Bermuda/Mauritius fund structure, alongside money allegedly siphoned by Vinod Adani. She also confirmed the fund was run by a childhood friend of her husband, who at the time was an Adani director. SEBI was tasked with investigating investment funds relating to the Adani matter, which would include funds Ms. Buch was personally invested in and funds by the same sponsor which were specifically highlighted in our original report. This is obviously a massive conflict of interest,” the firm pointed out.

On Ms. Buch’s remarks that her husband used the consulting entities, starting in 2019 to transact with unnamed “prominent clients in the Indian industry”, Hindenburg asked if these included clients SEBI is tasked with regulating.

Pointing to the promise of a “commitment to complete transparency” in the SEBI chief’s joint statement with her spouse, Hindenburg Research asked if she will publicly release the “full list of consulting clients and details of the engagements, both through the offshore Singaporean consulting firm, the Indian consulting firm and any other entity she or her husband may have an interest in”.

U.S. short-seller Hindenburg Research launched a broadside against market regulator SEBI chairperson Madhabi Buch, alleging she and her husband had stakes in obscure offshore funds used in the alleged Adani money siphoning scandal.

SEBI Chairman Buch and her husband have denied the allegations as baseless and asserted their finances are an open book.

The Adani Group termed the latest allegations malicious and based on manipulation of select public information. The company said it has no commercial relationship with SEBI chairperson or her husband.

SEBI chief Madhabi Puri Buch at SEBI Bhavan in Mumbai.
| Photo Credit: PTI

In its first comments following a new report by U.S.-based short seller Hindenburg Research, capital markets regulator SEBI on Sunday (August 11, 2024) said it has investigated all the allegations against the Adani group.

Chairperson Madhabi Buch made relevant disclosures from time to time and recused herself in matters involving potential conflicts of interest, the regulator said in a statement.

The regulator also said that it has duly investigated the allegations made by Hindenburg against Adani, and said that last of its 26 investigations is nearing completion now.

Earlier, Ms. Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch had termed the allegations baseless, and also said that the short-seller is attacking the credibility of the capital markets regulator, and also attempting a character assassination of the chairperson.

Hindenburg Research alleged that it suspects SEBI’s unwillingness to act against Adani group may be because Ms. Madhabi Buch had stakes in offshore funds linked to the conglomerate.