Part I: Moez Kassam and Anson Funds: A Tale of Corruption, Greed, and Failure
Part II: Moez Kassam & Anson Funds Part II: Rotten To The Core
Part III: Moez Kassam & Anson Funds: Panic as DOJ Widens Investigation
Other investigative pieces can be found here: Market Frauds
As the Anson Funds ship swiftly navigates toward the rocks, Moez Kassam and his crew are making moves of desperation to try to change course. These include intimidation, hacking, hit pieces and a host of lies to those they believe have the influence to help them avoid the coming collision.
They have hired some 6 different law firms at a cost of around $6 million a month to deal with the multitude of legal issues facing the fund, ranging from individual lawsuits to dealing with the DOJ and SEC.
Whilst this is going on Moez is still trying to raise money from unsuspecting investors, telling them all is well and that these are minor speedbumps on the way to Anson becoming a $10 billion fund. We hope investors are not fooled by this – their money will disappear down the black hole of losses, redemptions and confiscation.
Anson has spent millions hiring the best in reputation management, whitewashing search engines with puff pieces and new pages bearing Moez Kassam’s name. This can only do so much, though. Once you are in the crosshairs of the U.S. regulators and the Department of Justice, a few puff pieces cannot save you; however, in Anson Funds’ case, it could help with pitching the fund to new investors as positive Anson pieces dominates the rankings. Due diligence investigations by potential new investors will hopefully extend beyond the first few pages of Google.
Selling people out
Sources inside Anson tell us that there really is only one route left for the fund, and that is to hand over a bigger fish.
Anson Funds has been caught, and it will most likely be fined and closed down, while jail time for key figures is looking increasingly likely. However, this could be lessened if Moez is able to hand the authorities someone bigger. This is exactly what he is contemplating at the moment.
Of course, Moez has no loyalties to anyone, but the task is not an easy one. He must identify the right target and provide clear evidence. He is aware that doing this also spells the end of his financial markets career.
Who is he planning to throw under the bus? That remains unclear, but it’s making a number of people nervous. Meanwhile, securities fraud, wire fraud and market manipulation are criminal offences, and they will still be punished no matter how big the fish that is handed over.
Where Did Moez Kassam Come from?
This is a question regulators need to be looking into because there is a path that hedge fund managers take. They usually start off in research and are in the business for a long time before anyone would consider giving them money. It takes years to prove themselves, building up a track record and working on their reputations.
What doesn’t happen is that a nobody with no experience comes out as an undergrad and starts running a hedge fund. That does not happen!
So who gave Moez the money? And who has been backing him all this time through some of the disastrous investment decisions the fund has undertaken?
Could it be Organized crime, a larger hedge fund in the U.S., a foreign entity, Pooled money from a certain community within Toronto? Or maybe the money could be linked to various groups in the Middle East – dirty money that’s funneled through Abu Dhabi and into his fund.
(There is a bigger story here that we are currently working on).
Anson does not behave like a normal $1.5 billion hedge fund. We hear their legal bills in the US and Canada are north of $6 million a month. Who is paying this? Is it the fund? Or a third party?
Regulators need to be looking at where the money supporting this criminal organization is coming from. What their involvement is and how they have been using Anson Funds to achieve their wider objectives.
This also factors into the above point of selling people out. Is Moez desperate enough to start selling his backers out? That is something I’m sure we are going to find out soon.
More on this in the coming weeks.
More Aphria:
With regards to Aphria, many of you may already be aware of the class action lawsuit by Scott+Scott law firm. We have been told they were sent much of their information by Anson Funds. The main thrust of the lawsuit is that Aphria overpaid for worthless assets. What isn’t known is that Anson Funds was a major holder of one of these assets and made a huge amount of money off the sale. We know from sources within Anson that they participated in early-stage financings in at least 1 of 3 Latin American assets that were ultimately purchased by Aphria.
Anson owned 22% of Colcanna, the Colombian asset. (Anson Funds made a fortune here whilst other investors lost out.)
Regulators should be looking closely here.
Moez bought Aphria stock for Cents on the Dollar
We have more on Aphria coming in a few weeks that could mean game over for Anson funds. A good source has provided us with information that proves fraud and manipulation. The information also proves that Moez used his fund to profit personally at the expense of unitholders. By buying founders stock for cents whilst his fund paid the full price of the financing. This was not disclosed. We have the dates and amounts of this transaction.
Concordia
Moez Kassam was in direct communication and working with Marc Cohodes to damage the stock. During the week of April 25 to 29, 2016, Moez Kassam started calling and messaging people in his network–from bankers, and brokers to short sellers and other associates—advising them to start selling their positions in CXR quickly. Moez was apparently speaking/working with Cohodes and told everyone that Cohodes was preparing another short attack on CXR. Moez was telling people that this was the last opportunity to get out and that the recent run-up had been a gift. Moez told people that he and Cohodes were in regular communication.
By mid-week, the stock began to trade abnormally and seemed under irregular pressure starting late in the day on April 26th. Moez was fully aware that selling pressure would be coming into the name at some point that week. By the end of the week, specifically after Cohodes’ Friday 10:30 am interview on BNN, it seemed clear that the stock was being manipulated lower. Once again, the day saw a high increase in the number of individual transactions, which was well over 12,000 in Canada compared with the daily norm.
Over the previous few months, there had been a multiple in the level of individual transactions on down days. We would estimate on these days the stock had 2-4 times the amount of individual transactions, certainly enough to cause one to ask, “why the sudden spike?”. From Wednesday to Friday (April 25-29), Moez was in regular contact with people about the stock’s weakness.
We have written communications from a number of sources proving these allegations that will be sent to the right people.
Moez and his TMX Group connection
This one is very disturbing but not surprising. Moez apparently has a man inside TMX Group—a situation he has enjoyed for years. This is a very senior person in the C Suite there. Moez Kassam bragged to people that he is able to get all sorts of information from him. We can’t give the name here as that is going to the regulators but you might be able to guess who could be working with Moez Kassam: https://investors.tmx.com/English/governance/senior-management/default.aspx
Have any companies that Anson Founds have shorted received letters from TMX Group – causing problems? I would imagine most. That could have been the work of this gentleman.
What is Anson Funds relationship with Murchinson
It is well known on the street that Moez Kassam and Marc Bistricer, the CEO of Murchinson, consider themselves partners. They have done many deals together and it is believed they still continue to do so. Bistricer has been in the news a lot recently for all of the wrong reasons,
SEC Charges Investment Adviser and Associated Individuals with Causing Violations of Regulation SHO
Bistricer paid over $8 million in fines, which apparently he laughed at and called a tax. He believes it was a small price of doing business and somehow he never received a trading suspension. And he is in trouble again–this time with Cormark and Canopy Growth: Statement of Allegations: In the Matter of Cormark Securities Inc. (capitalmarketstribunal.ca) OSC alleges Cormark Securities was part of ‘illegal’ short-selling scheme
It’s Munchinson who has caused the headlines, but it’s Anson that Cormark hates. The line is that Cormark is done with Anson. Even though the commissions are huge, they’re not worth the headache. We believe on some level Anson is involved in this trade, though; perhaps with money in the fund, joint ventures or special trades. They could both be funding a special purpose vehicle with Munchison managing it. Our bet is that there are a bunch of special purpose funds, or one-time funds that are set up for deals. (Something else for the SEC to look into.)
Where Moez Gets his money when in a bind:
As reported before, Moez Kassam has been moving money abroad, to and through the UAE. He is feathering his nest in case he needs to run. What isn’t known is that he is friendly with members of the royal family there. These are not senior royals; rather, they are primarily nephews of the king who still have significant resources at their disposal.
During the cannabis heyday, these junior royals wanted to get into cannabis, but because they are Muslims and part of the royal family they were concerned how their fathers and uncles would look upon this.
Moez has been bragging about how he is “tight” with these guys and likes partying with them. He has been telling people that this is where he puts his funds and where he gets money when he is desperate.
Anson Funds and Eight Capital
It has recently come to our attention that the Canadian regulators have been investigating Eight Capital and its relationship with Anson Funds. The investigation is examining how Anson Funds was using Eight to illegally short stocks and how the Fund was transferring the positions among various funds, or across them, which is considered “wash-trading”.
Even with Moez Kassam’s good friend Winston Miles working at Eight Capital it is believed that following this Anson was blocked from doing any short sales through Eight. The investigation went on for a number of years. We do not, at this point, know whether it is still ongoing or what was found, but we are hoping the Canadian OSC did not do another back-door deal with Eight Capital, as it did with Anson Funds Seeking Alpha and social media manipulation.
Acasta Enterprises
Another deal Anson would prefer to keep as quiet as possible involved Acasta Enterprises. The story as we heard it is that Anson Funds and David Cynamon received insider information from Geoff Beattie, where he tipped them off that a takeover offer was about to be announced and that he needed Anson and Cynamon to help him take over the board to push the offer that was coming through. Anson and Cynamon purchased some 15% of the company – Anson 12%, Cynamon 3%. Their average price was around $0.60, compared to the offer, which was to be around $1.50. It’s thought that they had a deal lined up to sell the company for parts that would have netted them more. Then, within 1 month of buying the stock, Anson started attacking management and trying to de-stabilize the company. (Seen before with Zenabis and Sentia).
Questions that need to be asked include: Why did Anson become an activist shareholder after only holding its position for 1 month? Why did Anson buy shares in Acasta at this exact time? And once Anson was positioned, it had its old ally The Globe & Mail start causing trouble with this hit piece: Anson fund urges TSX to scrutinize planned Acasta Enterprises debt-for-equity swap – The Globe and Mail. (We have seen the globe many times before working with/for Anson Funds to discredit companies and target enemies.)
Then, miraculously, Anson withdrew its application against Acasta: Notice of Withdrawal: In the Matter of Anson Advisors Inc. (osc.ca). Regulators need to look very closely at what went on here.
Genius Brands
Genius Brands has been covered extensively on this site – but the Augenbaum lawsuit has some interesting details. As we have listed in the above report we believe Anson Funds was behind a huge and illegal pump and dump involving Genius Brands, deliberately defrauding investors out of billions of dollars.
But while the previous research looks at what happened when they started attacking the stock, it does not examine what happened before. The Aguenbaum lawsuit fills in the gaps there. Has no one wondered how a stock went from $0.23 cents in April 2020 to $6.00 on the 5th June 2020? Anson knows how to pump a stock, as well.
According to the lawsuit: On March 17, 2020, Anson Funds purchased Senior Secured Convertible Notes issued by Genius Brands and warrants to purchase substantial additional shares of common stock. Anson bought these at $0.21 per share. It is believed Anson sold this stock for over $2.00 per share. We also believe Anson Funds was responsible for the huge runup in the stock, and then, when it had exited its position, it heavily shorted the company and arranged the various hit and pump pieces from Hindenburg and Josh Flo.
We would be interested in knowing how many shares of Genius Brands Anson Funds owned on 30 July 2020. And what Anson’s trading was from March to July across all of its funds. Regulators should be asking for this information.
Anson Funds and false whistleblower mails:
Moez has admitted to many that they Anson is well known for sending fake mails to regulators in both Canada and the United States, making claims about companies and stirring up trouble. A good example of this is with Terra Tech.
In this example, Sunny Puri committed libel in an open letter to Clark County Commissioner of Nevada as part of a deliberate effort to deny Terra Tech an operating license in that county. A lot of good information can be found here about Anson’s underhand and illegal actions: https://ansonfundconspiracy.wordpress.com/
The King of the cheap rounds
This is one of the ways Moez was known on the street. If you were a hungry cannabis company, for instance, you would go to Anson for money. If Anson liked the deal, they would either give or help raise the funds for you—at a significant cost. Moez would always demand to be given/sold the cheap founders’ paper. Most of the time, that would go into one of his personal companies or one linked to family. It would very rarely go into the fund, which is something unitholders and regulators should be aware of. We cannot publish more on this here but the information has been sent to the right people.
Payments to Nate Anderson – Hindenburg Research
Nate has been in the news a lot of late – trying to create the image of a man who fights corporate crime and uncovers fraud. And, yes, he has done some good work of late. But that doesn’t excuse his past illegal dealings with Moez Kassam.
Moez is well known for telling people that he created Hindenburg. What is less well known is that he used to pay Nate directly for the hit pieces Nate published for Anson’s benefit.
But Moez, being cheap, often didn’t pay Nate what was owed, which led to their falling out. Nate was also upset that because of Moez’s bragging he was dragged into the Catalyst lawsuit.
Here is a piece on what could be their latest escapade: https://www.reddit.com/r/BurnedByAnsonFunds/comments/10mwn6f/was_anson_funds_involved_in_the_hindenburg_report/ (Anson Funds had the piece removed as they do not want to be linked to the Adani hit piece Hindenburg put out which we have been told they were involved in from the beginning.)
But it was archived and you can see the full post here: https://web.archive.org/web/20230127213804/https://www.reddit.com/r/BurnedByAnsonFunds/comments/10mwn6f/was_anson_funds_involved_in_the_hindenburg_report/
The OSC has no teeth:
This might be one of Moez’s favorite sayings. He has apparently been saying it since the first report came out and he continues to use it to this day. The last time he uttered it was when he was blind drunk (a daily occurrence) and talking about trading patterns and being obvious with their illegal trading and how it could alert regulators. His response was, “I don’t give a shit about the OSC, they have no teeth.” One can only hope that the OSC one day shows Moez that it does in fact have teeth, and sharp ones at that.
Credit Cards
In a previous report we covered Facedrive and how there was a huge negative Google ad campaign, where the company’s brand keywords were hijacked. We have been told that regulators should ask to look at Marissa Kassams Platinum American Express card for various payments that we have been informed would be very difficult to explain.
Anson Funds and the big bank
Sunny Puri (Anson) received multiple research reports on AXDX from 2018 – May 2019 from JP Morgan analyst, Tycho Peterson. White Diamond published many of these research reports on Scribd. These reports were not for public dissemination and had the following labeled on the header: “This document is being provided for the exclusive use of SUNNY PARI of ANSON ADVISORS.”
The JP May 2019 report had a $16 price target and a Neutral rating. The prior JP Feb 2019 report also had a $16 price target and a Neutral rating. White Diamond published the May and Feb 2019 JP research report to Scribd on September 13, 2019. On September 17, 2019, White Diamond published a negative report on Seeking Alpha. On September 29, 2019, JP issued a downgrade report to Underweight from Neutral. It looks like Sunny Puri got the heads up that JP would be issuing the negative report and passed along older reports for White Diamond to take info from.
White Diamond published a negative story on AXDX on 9/16/2019. He uploaded a JP Morgan report on AXDX to Scribbed on 9/13/2019 with the header “This document is being provided for the exclusive use of SUNNY PURI at ANSON ADVISORS”.
The wolfpack was at work again here.
That is all we have for this report. We have 2 more pieces coming out in the next couple of weeks. One reveals Anson Funds big secret. How they actually get away with what they do. Regulators will be very interested in the research..
New Lawsuit Against Anson Funds – Sentia Wellness
Anatomy of an Anson Funds Short & Distort Attack: Recon Africa
Moez Kassam & Anson Funds: Panic as DOJ Widens Investigation
