American short seller firm Hindenburg on Saturday started buzzing in India after it dropped a cryptic post hinting that another big reveal on an Indian billionaire is coming soon. Hindenburg Research rose to fame for its unproved reports on Gautam Adani's firm and calling it the 'biggest scam in corporate history'. As per reports, due to the Hindenburg Report, Gautam Adani’s wealth dropped by more than $80 billion in the month, reaching a low of $37.7 billion. His conglomerate, which at one point lost more than $150 billion in market value, spent months wooing back investors and lenders, repaying debt and assuaging regulatory concerns.
On Saturday, Hindenburg took to its official X handle and wrote, "Something big soon India."
After this plethora of social media users highlighted that the US short seller company has already lost its credibility. Therefore, it won't matter much whatever it may reveal about any Indian billionaire. For the unversed, Mahesh Jethmalani, a BJP leader in July claimed that an American businessman with Chinese connections had commissioned the Hindenburg report on Adani. He specifically named Mark Kingdon of Kingdon Capital Management LLC as the alleged party behind the report.
Jethmalani on his X wrote, "There is no doubt that #TheChinaProject and its founder #AnlaCheng were #CCCP lobbyists as attested to by ex employee #ShannonVonSant before the US Congress. In November 2023 , The China Project shut down on the ground that a “source of funding that it was counting on “ did not come through & allegations regarding “its nefarious designs” were widespread in both China & the US making it unviable to survive on subscriptions only! While the Project was undoubtedly mired in espionage charges in the US, the anticipated source of funding which did not materialise was not disclosed and is shrouded in mystery!
What is now in the public domain however is that Cheng and family made a fortune short selling Adani stock in Jan/Feb 2023 ( around $25 million at the very least)a fraction of which speculative gain could easily have funded the Project. Did the $40 million which they invested in the Adani short sale and gains accruing from it not belong to them? Who then did it belong to? The Chinese State or a private actor? Was the expected money that the Project was denied a share of the Adani short sale gains? Were they therefore only a front? Had Kingdon,Cheng & family short traded in the Indian markets before? And why Adani stocks ?"
Mark Kingdon and Anla Cheng who’ve not yet replied to the SEBI notice to them."
What did the Hindenberg tell the Supreme Court of India?
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) issued a show cause notice, to which Hindenburg Research vigorously responded in a comprehensive blog post dated July 1.Hindenburg claimed to have received an eerie email from SEBI, which they initially chose to disregard.
They didn't realize its importance until they received a follow-up email with the subject line Show Cause Notice. . Sharing the entire notice on Slideshare, they declared it to be nonsense contrived to serve a pre-ordained purpose: an attempt to silence and intimidate those who expose corruption and fraud committed by the most powerful people in India.
Later, the Supreme Court refused to form any SIT or group of experts to conduct an investigation into the Adani-Hindenburg controversy saying that the media and third party reports were not conclusive proof. The top court said that reports prepared by third party organisations such as the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and Hindenburg Research cannot be regarded as “conclusive proof”.
It added, “The allegations of conflict of interest against members of the (court-appointed) expert committee are unsubstantiated and are rejected.”