Indian billionaire Gautam Adani has slipped from being the world’s third richest man to the fourth after an activist investment firm released a report Tuesday accusing his company, Adani Group, of “brazen” stock manipulation and accounting fraud worth $218 billion, wiping $919 billion from his personal net worth.
Hindenburg Research, which in the past has shorted—or bet against—companies like electric truck maker Nikola Corp and Twitter, said it holds short positions in Adani companies through U.S.-traded bonds and non-Indian-traded derivative instruments.
Tuesday’s report sent shares tied to seven of the Adani Group’s listed companies falling by more than 5% on Wednesday, taking a $10.8 billion hit, and forcing the company to issue a strong denial of its contents.
