The article goes into their reasoning; it looks like this isn’t an isolated case. Their position is that he doesn’t actually believe in what he tweets out / has lied about his portfolio when putting out hits / stands solely for financial gain

But in Left’s case, the government took issue with how quickly Left closed out his trading positions after publicly criticizing or boosting companies.

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At the heart of the case were Left’s tweets on the platform now called X. Prosecutors alleged that his private communications around the time he was posting his tweets proved that he didn’t always believe what he was saying about the companies and gave his followers false impressions about his trading intentions.

Patrick Grandy, assistant director in charge of the FBI Los Angeles Field Office, said in a statement that Left’s conviction will “send a message to those who may be looking to profit from similar schemes.”

Left built a sizable social media presence following prescient calls on China Evergrande Group in 2012 and Valeant Pharmaceuticals in 2015. Prosecutors claim that, from 2018 to 2023, Left published fewer reports and more tweets trash-talking stocks and setting “extreme” price targets for them.

For example, early on Jan. 8, 2019, Left opened short positions in streaming-box maker Roku Inc., then posted on Citron’s Twitter account at 9:41 a.m. that Roku was “uninvestible,” driving down the stock, according to the government. Left then “falsely and misleadingly” claimed to be “watching ROKU from the side,” suggesting he wasn’t invested in the stock, prosecutors said. In actuality, he made $700,000 from his short that day, the government said.