US government ends investigation of Muddy Waters’ Carson Block – report

U.S. regulators have told Carson Block of Muddy Waters Research that they have ended their civil and criminal probes into the short seller’s activities without taking any action.
Dept. of Justice prosecutors recently told Block in a letter that the agency had closed the investigation, according to a Reuters report on Monday, which cited people familiar with the matter.
The end of the probe comes after Block received a search warrant and subpoenas in 2021 as part of a government probe in potential market manipulation by short sellers and hedge funds.
The Block news comes after short seller Andrew Left of Citron Research was arrested last month on allegations that he engaged in a multi-year scheme to defraud followers by publishing false and misleading statements regarding his stock trading recommendations.
The news about the end of the probe into Block was first reported by Institutional Investor on Wednesday.
In one of Block’s more recent calls, he told Bloomberg in March that he had become more bearish on Blackstone Mortgage Trust (BXMT), as he expected multifamily properties may follow office properties in the most-troubled commercial real estate sectors.
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