Hindenburg manipulated market to profit on Adani Group shares: Sebi

US broker firm Hindenburg passed on a maligning report on Adani Group companies to its clint to mislead the market and hammer Adani stocks, in order to buy the stocks at rock bottom prices and profit on them later, according to a show-cause report issued by market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

In its show-cause notice issued to Hindenburg Research, Nathan Anderson and the entities of Mauritius-based foreign portfolio investor Mark Kingdon, Sebi has pointed to trading violations in the shares of Adani Enterprises Ltd.

Hindengberg passed on the misleading report to Kingdon’s hedge fund manager in New York two months before publishing it, causing panic selling of Adani stocks in the market, says the 46-page report.

Hindenberg colluded with the hedge fund and Kotak Mahindr (International) LLC, a broker associated with Kotak Mahindra Bank, to hammer the Adani Group stocks by using non-public and vicious information so as to buy them at cheap rates, thereby making a huge profit, according to the report.

Sebi has accused the US short seller of making “unfair” gains from the over $150 billion decline in the market value of 10 Adani Group firms.

The Sebi notice comes a week after senior lawyer  Mahesh Jethmalani alleged that a businessman with Chinese links had commissioned the Hindenburg Research report.

In fact, Hindenberg was hired by Kingdon Capital to prepare the report on Adani Group, according to Jethmalini’s pst on social media platform X.