We are Going to Need Bigger Jails

Jeffrey Bronchick, CFA

I don’t know Andrew Left so I am not prepared to comment on his character. But if you are telling me that taking an investment position, long or short, and then blabbing about it publicly is illegal, then a LOT of things have to change in the world. This is a practice that extends to biblical times and happens every day in Washington. And in the day and age of the grandest fraud in ages on our front pages daily, it seems hard to pick on this and that.

Caveat Emptor people.

The Unjust Prosecution of Andrew Left (Part 1)

Notes from Inside the Courtroom

Edwin Dorsey

Jun 04, 2026

“I think that’s a terrible definition of market manipulation and I would flunk a student who used it as an example.”

During the trial of Andrew Left, defense expert Professor Andrew Verstein opined that trading around truthful reports and tweets is not market manipulation because it excludes the heart of manipulation: falsity. Professor Verstein further argued that activist short sellers and market commentators don’t need to disclose their positions and that what makes stock commentators credible is their arguments, evidence, and track record, not their trading.

Professor Verstein serves as faculty co-director of the Lowell Milken Institute for Business Law and Policy, specializes in market abuse, and, in April, testified before Congress on “Combatting Fraud and Exploitation in Capital Markets.”

Professor Verstsein’s reasoning made sense to me; his credentials were as strong as could be, and I believed his testimony supported a not guilty verdict on the charges of market manipulation.

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We are Going to Need Bigger Jails

The Unjust Prosecution of Andrew Left (Part 1)

Notes from Inside the Courtroom

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