In a dramatic turn of events, Nathan Anderson, the founder of the controversial US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research announced on 15th January that he would disband the firm. The short-seller’s dubious report had caused a significant fall in the shares of various Adani Group companies in 2023.
In a personal note published by Nathan Anderson on Hindenburg Research’s website on Wednesday, he said that the toll of the “rather intense, and at times, all-encompassing” nature of the work was behind his decision to disband the firm founded in 2017.
“It has also been rather intense, and at times, all-encompassing. I often wake up from my dreams because I’ve thought of a new investigative thread to pull on in my sleep, or an edit that clarifies a point I didn’t realize I was troubled by during the day. Or from the general pressure of it all. We are not fearless—we just have faith in the truth and hope it leads us down the right path,” Anderson wrote adding that there have been days of bizarre, hilarious and ridiculous stories.
On having a specific reason to disband Hindenburg Research, Anderson said: “There is not one specific thing—no particular threat, no health issue, and no big personal issue.”
“The intensity and focus has come at the cost of missing a lot of the rest of the world and the people I care about. I now view Hindenburg as a chapter in my life, not a central thing that defines me,” he added.
Boasting the supposed impact Hindenburg Research reports created, Nathan Anderson wrote, “…More than I imagined was possible at the outset. Nearly 100 individuals have been charged civilly or criminally by regulators at least in part through our work, including billionaires and oligarchs. We shook some empires that we felt needed shaking.”
The Hindenburg Research founder also announced that over the next six months, he would work on a series of materials and videos to open-source every aspect of the firm’s model and how they conduct investigations.
Hindenburg Research’s attacks on Adani
In January 2023, Hindenburg published a report accusing the Adani Group of financial irregularities, leading to a significant drop in the company’s stock price. The group at the time had rubbished these claims.
The Hindenburg report alleged stock manipulation and fraud by the conglomerate. The case is related to the allegations (part of a report by Hindenburg Research) that Adani had inflated its share prices. After these allegations were published, there was a sharp fall in the shares of various Adani group companies’ stocks.
In January 2024, the Supreme Court refused to transfer the probe into the allegations of stock price manipulation by the Adani group to an SIT and had directed market regulator SEBI to complete its probe into two pending cases within three months. By June 2024, Adani group companies’ share prices recovered to their pre-Hindenburg report prices.
On 10th August 2024, Hindenburg Research posted a cryptic message on X saying, “Something big soon India”.
The same day, they released a report that claimed that SEBI chief Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch had investments in an offshore firm used in the Adani money siphoning case. The report also alleged that the SEBI chairperson’s involvement showed a lack of transparency in the market regulator when it came to investigating the Adani group.
The next day on 11th August, SEBI chief Madhabi Buch and her husband released a joint statement, calling the report baseless and saying that their financial records were an open book. In a detailed joint statement issued later in the day by Madhabi Buch and husband Dhaval Buch rejected all allegations of Hindenburg as baseless.
In September 2024, Hindenburg Research claimed that Swiss authorities had frozen more than USD 310 million in funds across several Swiss bank accounts over money laundering allegations against Adani Group. The Adani conglomerate strongly rejected the claims made by Hindenburg Research.
It is notable here that Hindenburg’s claims were used by Indian Opposition parties to target the Modi government suggesting the political motives behind the targeting the Adani Group and Indian stock markets ahead of the general elections in 2024. The speculations became confirmation soon when George Soros himself declared that the Adani issue would be raised in the Indian Parliament and Modi would have to answer, indicating that the incident was another of the larger efforts he supports to attack ‘nationalistic governments’ around the world.
Breon Peace’s resignation, Hindenburg Research disbandment ahead of Trump administration’s inauguration
Interestingly, Nathan Anderson’s announcement to disband Hindenburg Research comes just days after US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace, who brought fraud and bribery charges against Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani and seven other executives, announced his resignation.
OpIndia reported about Breon Peace’s links with Hungarian billionaire and regime change specialist George Soros. Breon Peace’s spouse Jacqueline Jones-Peace is the Director of Development & Senior Attorney at Equal Justice Initiative, which is based in Montgomery, Alabama. The non-profit and human rights organisation was founded by Bryan Stevenson who also serves as its Executive Director. However, the interesting part is that he is also a member of the Open Society Foundations US Programs board, which establishes an evident relationship between the Peace couple and George Soros.
The timing of Hindenburg Research’s sudden shutdown has raised many questions. Not to forget, the decision has come right after Rep Lance Gooden, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland on 14th January 2025 and demanded that all the documents and records related to the Justice Department’s decision to probe Adani Group.
Before this, the Republican leader also raised concerns over Adani Group’s controversial indictment. In his letter to Garland on 7th January, Lance Gooden wrote, “The indictment alleged acts conducted entirely within India, involving Indian citizens and officials, with no apparent injury to U.S. interests.”
He added that even if the allegations are proven true, US could not be the final arbiter in this case since there was no concrete involvement of any American party in the alleged payment of bribes.
“The allegations in the Adani case, even if proven true, would still fail to make us the appropriate and final arbiter on the issue. These ‘bribes’ were allegedly paid to Indian State government officials, in India, by Indian executives of an Indian company, with no concrete involvement of or injury to any American party. Conversely, Smartmatic, an American company responsible for conducting our elections, had executives who allegedly laundered money and paid bribes to foreign governments, according to the Department of Justice’s indictment earlier. However, despite numerous attempts by my colleagues and I to have our concerns addressed before the elections, we were never briefed by your department,” Gooden contended.
Pointing at the selective nature of the US Justice Department’s action against Gautam Adani and his companies, the Republican leader said, “Why has the Department of Justice not indicted a single American if the case involves a significant nexus with the U.S.? Were there no Americans involved in this alleged scheme? Why has the Department of Justice pursued this case against Gautam Adani when the alleged criminal act, and the parties allegedly involved are in India? Do you seek to enforce justice in India?”
Amidst the Republican leaders questioning the Biden Administration’s biased conduct against the Adani Group, the Biden administration appointed US Attorney Breon Peace’s resignation and now the Hindenburg Research disbandment just four days before US President-elect Donald Trump’s swearing-in ceremony raises serious concerns over the timing of these incidents.
