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by Mike Caswell

A jury in California has convicted Andrew Left, the activist short-seller accused of a two-year scheme to manipulate several Canadian and U.S. listings. Prosecutors claimed that Mr. Left, 55, used his investment publication, Citron Research, to generate $20-million in trading profits in what amounted to a "garden-variety pump-and-dump scheme." The stocks that he targeted included TSX Venture Exchange listings Cronos Group Inc. and Namaste Technologies Inc.

The jury entered the verdict after a 14-day trial in Los Angeles, ahead of which Mr. Left had complained that he was a victim of "selective prosecution." He said that the government charged him because people on Wall Street pushed regulators and lawmakers to "go after" him. He further claimed to have personally uncovered some of the largest corporate frauds in history. He had asked that the judge dismiss the case before it went to trial, and during the trial he filed motions seeking an acquittal and a mistrial. The judge denied the requests.

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