California
Short seller convicted of securities fraud
A federal grand jury has convicted short seller Andrew Left of securities fraud.
Left, who was a securities analyst, trader, and guest commentator on television channels including CNBC and Fox Business, was charged in July 2024 with one count of engaging in a securities fraud scheme, 17 counts of securities fraud, and one count of making false statements to federal investigators. As a short seller, Left would make money betting that stocks would fall.
The Justice Department said Tuesday that Left was convicted of one count of participating in a securities fraud scheme and 12 counts of securities fraud. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 31. He faces a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison.
The Justice Department previously said that Left conducted business under the name Citron Research, which had a website that published investment recommendations. He published research on companies ranging from Tesla and GameStop to Grand Canyon Education and Peloton.
According to the indictment, Left would comment on publicly traded companies and make recommendations on the shares. The commentary often included sensationalized headlines (“Investors Peddling Themselves into Frenzy”) and exaggerated language to maximize the reaction it would get from the stock market. As alleged, Left knowingly exploited his ability to move stock prices by targeting stocks popular with retail investors and posting recommendations on social media to manipulate the market and make fast, easy money.
The indictment further alleged that before Citron would publish its commentary, Left would create long or short positions in a public company on which he was commenting in his trading accounts and prepared to quickly close those positions after Citron’s publication and take profits on the short-term price movement caused by his commentary.
In a post on social media platform X under the Citron Research handle, Left expressed his opposition to the conviction.
Texas
College QB has made thousands of bets totaling at least $90,000
LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby has made thousands of bets totaling at least $90,000 while in college, including at least 40 bets on Indiana football when he was a Hoosiers freshman in 2022, according to court filings before a scheduled hearing in the transfer player’s lawsuit seeking to have the NCAA restore his eligibility for what would be his final season this fall.
Sorsby, who transferred to Texas Tech for a reported multimillion dollar-deal after playing for Cincinnati the past two seasons, was ruled ineligible after he acknowledged wagering on sports.
A hearing is scheduled Monday in district court in Lubbock County, Texas, where the school is located, on Sorsby’s lawsuit filed May 18 seeking a temporary injunction against the NCAA.
Court filings show that on March 11 the NCAA received a tip from an online gambling book, which had been informed by law enforcement, about Sorsby’s gambling activity. Texas Texas was notified April 14 that the NCAA was doing an investigation.
According to agreed-upon stipulated facts included in court documents, Sorsby made at least 2,900 bets totaling more than $30,000 while at Indiana from June 2022 through December 2023. Those included at least 40 bets on the Hoosiers games and players, though he didn’t bet on games in which he played. There were at least 40 more bets on Indiana men’s basketball and approximately 300 bets on college football games unrelated to Indiana during that span.
He continued betting after transferring to Cincinnati, though not on the Bearcats, and started using accounts not in his name. The documents show that between December 25, 2023, and June 23, 2025, Sorsby provided more than $60,000 to a friend to deposit into a FanDuel account registered to his brother-in-law that was shared by Sorsby and a friend.
Since transferring to Texas Tech, in a state where online betting is illegal, Sorsby sent approximately $5,000 through Venmo or Zelle to other individuals who placed bets on his behalf.
Texas Tech announced on April 27, about two weeks after being notified by the NCAA, that the 22-year-old Sorsby was taking an indefinite leave of absence to enter a residential treatment program for a gambling addiction. He has completed that 35-day program and coach Joey McGuire said this week that the quarterback was close to returning to campus, where he can still participate in offseason workouts with the Red Raiders.
Sorsby’s lawsuit was filed the same day Texas Tech ruled him ineligible, a necessary step before the school could initiate the process to seek his reinstatement. Tech filed that request for reinstatement the following day, on May 19, and the NCAA denied it May 22. Texas Tech said this week that it is appealing that ruling.
Louisiana
High court rules against exoneree whose office was abolished
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A sharply divided Louisiana Supreme Court on Monday signed off on abolishing an elected office won by a New Orleans exoneree who had spent nearly 30 years in prison for murder before his conviction was vacated.
The 4-3 decision leaves Calvin Duncan with little path forward to try assuming the role of Orleans Parish clerk of criminal court, a job he won in a landmark election last year before Republican lawmakers raced to eliminate the office this spring.
In a blistering dissent, the court’s Democratic justices said the ruling opened the door to allowing Louisiana lawmakers to subvert the will of voters. The court’s conservative majority disagreed, writing that “this change was entirely within the authority of the legislature.”
The court also rejected the New Orleans City Council’s attempt to hold a special election, which would have given Duncan the option to run again.
Signed by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry, the bill eliminating the New Orleans clerk’s office was championed by GOP lawmakers as a necessary step toward government efficiency. Supporters denied that it had anything to do with Duncan or his past.
Democrats blasted the change as overreach from a largely white, conservative Legislature that they accused of seeking to thwart the will of a predominantly Black city. Those tensions surfaced again last month when Landry signed a new congressional map that eliminated one of the state’s two majority-Black House districts.
Duncan was convicted of a 1981 murder and was released from prison in 2011. In 2021, an Orleans Parish district judge vacated Duncan’s sentence, finding he had been unjustly convicted and the charges against him were dropped.
Short seller convicted of securities fraud
A federal grand jury has convicted short seller Andrew Left of securities fraud.
Left, who was a securities analyst, trader, and guest commentator on television channels including CNBC and Fox Business, was charged in July 2024 with one count of engaging in a securities fraud scheme, 17 counts of securities fraud, and one count of making false statements to federal investigators. As a short seller, Left would make money betting that stocks would fall.
The Justice Department said Tuesday that Left was convicted of one count of participating in a securities fraud scheme and 12 counts of securities fraud. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 31. He faces a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison.
The Justice Department previously said that Left conducted business under the name Citron Research, which had a website that published investment recommendations. He published research on companies ranging from Tesla and GameStop to Grand Canyon Education and Peloton.
According to the indictment, Left would comment on publicly traded companies and make recommendations on the shares. The commentary often included sensationalized headlines (“Investors Peddling Themselves into Frenzy”) and exaggerated language to maximize the reaction it would get from the stock market. As alleged, Left knowingly exploited his ability to move stock prices by targeting stocks popular with retail investors and posting recommendations on social media to manipulate the market and make fast, easy money.
The indictment further alleged that before Citron would publish its commentary, Left would create long or short positions in a public company on which he was commenting in his trading accounts and prepared to quickly close those positions after Citron’s publication and take profits on the short-term price movement caused by his commentary.
In a post on social media platform X under the Citron Research handle, Left expressed his opposition to the conviction.
Texas
College QB has made thousands of bets totaling at least $90,000
LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby has made thousands of bets totaling at least $90,000 while in college, including at least 40 bets on Indiana football when he was a Hoosiers freshman in 2022, according to court filings before a scheduled hearing in the transfer player’s lawsuit seeking to have the NCAA restore his eligibility for what would be his final season this fall.
Sorsby, who transferred to Texas Tech for a reported multimillion dollar-deal after playing for Cincinnati the past two seasons, was ruled ineligible after he acknowledged wagering on sports.
A hearing is scheduled Monday in district court in Lubbock County, Texas, where the school is located, on Sorsby’s lawsuit filed May 18 seeking a temporary injunction against the NCAA.
Court filings show that on March 11 the NCAA received a tip from an online gambling book, which had been informed by law enforcement, about Sorsby’s gambling activity. Texas Texas was notified April 14 that the NCAA was doing an investigation.
According to agreed-upon stipulated facts included in court documents, Sorsby made at least 2,900 bets totaling more than $30,000 while at Indiana from June 2022 through December 2023. Those included at least 40 bets on the Hoosiers games and players, though he didn’t bet on games in which he played. There were at least 40 more bets on Indiana men’s basketball and approximately 300 bets on college football games unrelated to Indiana during that span.
He continued betting after transferring to Cincinnati, though not on the Bearcats, and started using accounts not in his name. The documents show that between December 25, 2023, and June 23, 2025, Sorsby provided more than $60,000 to a friend to deposit into a FanDuel account registered to his brother-in-law that was shared by Sorsby and a friend.
Since transferring to Texas Tech, in a state where online betting is illegal, Sorsby sent approximately $5,000 through Venmo or Zelle to other individuals who placed bets on his behalf.
Texas Tech announced on April 27, about two weeks after being notified by the NCAA, that the 22-year-old Sorsby was taking an indefinite leave of absence to enter a residential treatment program for a gambling addiction. He has completed that 35-day program and coach Joey McGuire said this week that the quarterback was close to returning to campus, where he can still participate in offseason workouts with the Red Raiders.
Sorsby’s lawsuit was filed the same day Texas Tech ruled him ineligible, a necessary step before the school could initiate the process to seek his reinstatement. Tech filed that request for reinstatement the following day, on May 19, and the NCAA denied it May 22. Texas Tech said this week that it is appealing that ruling.
Louisiana
High court rules against exoneree whose office was abolished
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A sharply divided Louisiana Supreme Court on Monday signed off on abolishing an elected office won by a New Orleans exoneree who had spent nearly 30 years in prison for murder before his conviction was vacated.
The 4-3 decision leaves Calvin Duncan with little path forward to try assuming the role of Orleans Parish clerk of criminal court, a job he won in a landmark election last year before Republican lawmakers raced to eliminate the office this spring.
In a blistering dissent, the court’s Democratic justices said the ruling opened the door to allowing Louisiana lawmakers to subvert the will of voters. The court’s conservative majority disagreed, writing that “this change was entirely within the authority of the legislature.”
The court also rejected the New Orleans City Council’s attempt to hold a special election, which would have given Duncan the option to run again.
Signed by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry, the bill eliminating the New Orleans clerk’s office was championed by GOP lawmakers as a necessary step toward government efficiency. Supporters denied that it had anything to do with Duncan or his past.
Democrats blasted the change as overreach from a largely white, conservative Legislature that they accused of seeking to thwart the will of a predominantly Black city. Those tensions surfaced again last month when Landry signed a new congressional map that eliminated one of the state’s two majority-Black House districts.
Duncan was convicted of a 1981 murder and was released from prison in 2011. In 2021, an Orleans Parish district judge vacated Duncan’s sentence, finding he had been unjustly convicted and the charges against him were dropped.
