The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: Nate Anderson, the short-seller behind Hindenburg Research, which among other things published investigations that pointed to an alleged nexus between India’s securities watchdog and the Adani Group, has announced that he is disbanding the organisation.
“I write this from a place of joy. Building this has been a life’s dream,” Anderson wrote in a statement on Hindenburg Research’s website.
The note focuses on Anderson’s need to step back from the consuming exercise of running Hindenburg Research.
“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 wrote.
Anderson also mentioned that he and his small team have all worked “extremely hard, with a focus on precision and letting the evidence dictate our words.”
“Sometimes this meant taking big swings and taking on fights that are much bigger than any of us as individuals. Fraud, corruption, and negativity often seem overwhelming. Early on, a sense of justice was usually elusive. When it happened, it was tremendously fulfilling. It kept us going when we needed it.”
Adani and SEBI
Two such big swings were undoubtedly its reports alleging that the Adani group had engaged in price rigging of company shares and then accusing Securities and Exchange Bureau of India (SEBI) chief Madhabi Buch and her husband of having held “stakes in both the obscure offshore funds used in the Adani money siphoning scandal.”
Hindenburg’s 2023 report accused the Adani Group, run by Gautam Adani, of “brazen stock manipulation”, an “accounting fraud scheme” and pulling the “largest con in corporate history” – which Adani denies. SEBI was tasked with investigating the group.
The report triggered a series of investigations into alleged irregularities by the Adani group, but was marked by little or no visible regulatory action in India. The allegations wiped off over $135 billion in market value from the Adanis’ empire.
The 2024 follow-up report shifted focus from Adani to SEBI.
In its aftermath, SEBI released a statement asserting that chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch, had “recused herself in matters involving potential conflict of interest.” A Right to Information (RTI) request was filed, seeking details on cases in which Buch had recused herself due to conflicts of interest. SEBI responded that information on Buch’s recusals was “not readily available” and that compiling it would “disproportionately divert resources,” invoking Section 7(9) of the RTI Act. Experts noted that the body had been reduced to a position of zero credibility.
Multiple efforts in parliament by opposition leaders to engage the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in discussions over both revelations were summarily ignored.
Eros International
At the inception of Hindenburg Research, the firm’s first two critical research reports centred on then-US listed Indian film company Eros International. The reports alleged major accounting irregularities, including suspected undisclosed related party transactions, asset inflation and falsified revenue, among other issues. The company sued Hindenburg, but the lawsuit was dismissed. A third report in 2019 alleging “egregious accounting irregularities” followed. In January 2023, the company was delisted by the NYSE.
“Almost 8 years after our initial reports, Indian securities regulator SEBI corroborated many of our findings, identifying multiple illicit related party transactions involving the same entities and people. SEBI orders from June 2023 and October 2024 detailed evidence that “prima-facie indicated possible siphoning of funds and manipulation of books of accounts”. The regulator fined and barred Eros promoter and managing director Sunil Lulla,” the organisation wrote.