Moez Kassam is the founder and Chief Investment Officer of Anson Funds, a corporation under investigation by the DOJ for insider trading and corruption. Anson Funds tripled assets under management in four years. In the last two years, the company has achieved returns of roughly 45%.
These figures are undeniably lucrative, prompting the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission to take notice.
Moez Kassam is a hedge fund manager. He argues that Anson is a relatively cautious long-short corporation.
However, it has been involved in at least five court disputes to far. All of them claimed the firm was misleading.
Moez Kassam’s Anson Funds has faced suspicions of insider trading.
According to those familiar with its activities, the business bets that cannabis companies’ stock prices would decrease and then participates in their secondary offers. Such sales cause price decreases.
Furthermore, Moez Kassam and Anson Funds have collaborated with some well-known scholars who have been the subject of inquiries in the United States.
Before you trust Moez Kassam with your money, consider the following points. Here, you will discover about his recent controversies and why investors have lost faith in him and Anson Funds.
When Bloomberg exposed Moez Kassam’s shady operations
Earlier this year, Bloomberg published a lengthy profile on Moez and his firm, Anson Funds.
It explains how Moez’s firm’s annual returns were three times higher than those of comparable long-short funds.
It also demonstrates how Moez Kassam has built a philanthropic image and a strong network.
In fact, Toronto Life featured a photo spread from his three-day wedding party. He also has over 5000 followers on his Instagram feed (MunchingMoez), where he gives glimpses of his lavish lifestyle.
Furthermore, the piece discusses the several litigation that Moez’s firm has encountered. Plaintiffs in these lawsuits include short-selling researchers, the company they short-sell, and even a shareholder.
Receiving allegations of spreading misinformation
In 2015, Nobilis Health Corp sued Moez Kassam and Anson Funds for initiating a “short assault” against the company.
Nobilis CEO stated that he had personally met with Anson representatives who were interested in investing.
However, a few months later, a blog post was published online denouncing the company. The man behind the message was a portfolio manager who reported to Moez.
Anson defended the piece in court, claiming it utilized only publicly available information. Furthermore, they filed a countersuit against Noblis, claiming that their litigation resulted in slander.
The case’s docket shows that they have resolved the dispute.
Nonetheless, firms have begun to take bearish research very seriously. They promptly take their critics to court.
To address this issue, a number of hedge funds have established ties with third-party researchers. Anson Funds, for example, pays researchers to generate pessimistic studies on firms.
Short sellers regard this as a common business practice, while detractors see it as a conspiracy to bring down companies.
Moez Kassam worked secretly with researchers
Moez Kassam’s hedge fund has collaborated with a number of researchers who have drawn the attention of US investigators.
They include Ben Axler (Spruce Point) and Andrew Left (Citron).
Anon recently filed a lawsuit against another independent researcher, Robet Doxtator. The lawsuit claimed slander because Robert had made multiple blogs disparaging their trading tactics.
He disputed the charges and claimed that the firm owes him money for providing them with a pessimistic report on General Electric Co. in 2019.
In August 2019, Harry Markopolos published research on the company, which caused its share price to fall. According to court filings, Moez Kassam’s firm stated that Robert provided diligence during that time period.
However, court filings do not indicate that Harry Markopolos collaborated with Moez and Anson Funds.
According to Robert, Moez Kassam agreed to give him 15% of the trade proceeds. Court filings show that Anson Funds earned more than $121,000, thus they owed him $18,000.
This litigation is still ongoing.
The Shady Bet of Moez Kassam
According to Bloomberg’s piece on Anson Funds, Moez’s self-proclaimed “genius” deal has also sparked significant debate.
The hedge fund began betting on Genius Brands in 2017. Genius Brands is a children’s television production firm.
Later, in an interview, Moez Kassam stated that he was confident in the company’s production quality.
The hedge fund then raised its position in the firm. However, Genius Brands has launched a lawsuit against them. There, they show that Anson Funds was one of the investors who paid 21 cents a share with the promise not to sell for several months.
At the same time, other investors purchased stock with a lockup period of 18 months.
A few weeks later, Genius Brands’ stock price skyrocketed, exceeding $11.
According to Genius Brands’ lawsuit, Anson and others earned more than $100 million as the stock rose. In response, Moez Kassam has urged the court to dismiss the case.
Other investors haven’t been as lucky. The stock is currently trading at roughly $1, its regular value.
Anson Funds faces a $450 million lawsuit in Canada
Moez Kassam’s troubles do not stop there.
In 2017, Catalyst Capital Group Inc. sued Anson Funds Canada for initiating a’manipulative’ shorting campaign.
Plaintiffs allege in the action that Anson targeted Catalyst’s subsidiary Callidus Capital Corp. In addition, the lawsuit claims Moez Kassam and his associates were “Wolfpack Conspirators”.
They filed their claim in Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice.
Furthermore, the lawsuit claims they targeted Callidus with a shorting scheme in which they coordinated multiple borrowers who had defaulted on their loans to Callidus and began trying to prevent the company from collecting.
Callidus claimed Anson Funds was utilizing news media to boost their shorting campaign.
Furthermore, the lawsuit claims that the conspirators propagated industry rumors that Catalyst and Callidus were the targets of OSC whistleblower complaints in order to undermine public trust in the company.
But there were no such complaints.
However, Anson Funds sent this story to media outlets, which publicized it in 2017.
Moez Kassam Reddit: What Victims Are Saying:
The shady business techniques of Anson Funds and Moez Kassam have sparked widespread anger. There is a special Reddit thread where victims of Moez Kassam and his firm can share their stories.
There will be discussions concerning Anson Funds wrongdoing and the SEC investigation into them.
I discovered several posts detailing how Moez Kassam and the firm wrecked businesses.
The piece discusses the many corporations that have undergone “short selling attacks” by Anson Funds.
It demonstrates that Moez has caused significant damage to Zenabis, Aphria, Facedrive, Genius Brands, and Tilray.
According to the post, Moez offers large sums of money to small businesses just to short them terribly after their IPO.
Furthermore, the Reddit thread states that Moez Kassam and Anson Funds exploit insider information to disseminate falsehoods about its targets.
It demonstrates how Moez profited greatly by undermining APHA’s administration. He released insider knowledge about the company and indicated that they would be shorting it.
As a result, the stock fell dramatically. When the stock rose again, Moez made a lot of money.
Surely there are many more posts on the subreddit. It’s called Burned By Anson. You can read more posts regarding how Anson Funds has had a bad impact on people’s life.
Conclusion
Currently, Moez Kassam presents himself as a philanthropist. He is the head of the Moez Kassam and Marissa Kassam Foundation. It professes to support children and immigrant populations.
While every charity attempt is appreciated, it appears Moez is using his foundation to divert attention away from his questionable professional history.
After researching how Anson Funds and Moez work, I don’t believe it is prudent to trust them.
Furthermore, he is currently the subject of an extensive DOJ and SEC investigation.
There are numerous cases of fraudsters who utilized insider trading to become wealthy but were forced to pay millions in penalties. For example, Hanif Lalani, a telecom executive, was forced to pay millions after being caught red-handed by authorities.
Similarly, Ben Strebinger Vancouver, another scammer, was ordered to pay $1.5 million for conducting a penny stock scheme.
