Firefighter testifies he lost most of $110K in retirement savings after investing in companies criticized by Andrew Left

• Andrew Left, a well-known short seller, is on trial in Los Angeles for alleged securities fraud.

• A retired firefighter testified that he lost most of his 401(k) after investing in stocks targeted by Sol.

• The left is accused of manipulating the market, but his defense says he shares his honest views.

Federal prosecutors call witnesses Andrew Left securities fraud case One person who may resonate with the jury: a retail investor who said he lost his retirement nest egg by investing in stocks that fell after being criticized by a famous short seller.

Billy Banks, a retired firefighter from Texas, testified Thursday at Sol’s trial in Los Angeles federal court. Prosecutors accused Left, the founder of Citron Research and a familiar face on financial TV news programs, of using his fame to: manipulate the market and deceives daily stock buyers, making more than $20 million in profits in the process.

Banks said he was working as a firefighter in 2018 when he decided to be more aggressive with his investments. He testified that he used the approximately $110,000 previously invested in mutual funds in his 401(k) to purchase shares of a marijuana company called CV Sciences through the CVSI stock ticker. Banks said he bought CVSI because he believed the company was a great success. CBD products this “really helped” with stress and pain management.

Banks said he was on vacation with his wife and had already seen his investment grow to $190,000. He said he remembers thinking “Oh my god” and being “so excited.”

“It’s like I’ve been watering this plant for weeks and here it is,” he said.

Banks said Left posted negative comments about the company shortly after returning from vacation, and the stock price dropped. While he still believes in the product, he said he can’t justify the “dip” he experienced as the stock price fell.

“It was like trying to catch a tiger’s tail. You couldn’t catch it,” he said.

By selling his CVSI shares, Banks lost about $80,000 of his initial investment. He took about $30,000 of the remaining funds and invested in another cannabis stock, hoping to recoup some of his losses. This time he invested in a company called Namaste.

While Banks said he saw Left on a television show, the short seller said he believed Namaste’s share price would fall to zero and his reaction was “utter dismay.”

“When he said he would open a short position to zero, I saw my funds go to zero,” he said.

Banks described it as “devastating,” stating that he lost approximately 80% of his investment in Namaste when he sold it.

The defense said Sol never advised anyone to take CVSI or Namaste. He also argued that Sol’s view on Namaste turned out to be correct, and that if Banks had sold all his shares the day Sol published the negative report, he would have lost less money than he did by selling later.

another one retail investor — the kind the prosecution accuses of targeting the Left — also testified Thursday. Adam Gray was working as a car salesman in South Dakota in 2018 when he said he started trading and learning about stocks.

Gray said Sol was one of the people he would follow from his perspective, but he began to view Sol’s behavior as potentially fraudulent. Gray, who said he follows marijuana stocks closely, said Left made a long-term bet on a cannabis company and shared negative information about two of his rivals.

“It seemed to me like this shouldn’t happen,” he said.

Gray eventually sent a tip. Securities and Exchange Commission About the left. It is unclear whether this tip triggered the investigation into Sol.

The left’s defense said its reporting on the marijuana companies it criticized was accurate.

The hearing will continue on Friday.

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