Dozens of Chinese and US Business Leaders Should Join Kaifu Lee and Condemn Citron Research

Kaifu Lee, http://www.citronfraud.com/ , and Citron Research are currently in the midst of a high profile fight. It started over QIHU, but is beginning to “get ugly”. Both are clearly trying to win over investors and traders in the fickle court of public opinion, as there is a lot of $ and reputations at stake.

Things went up a notch yesterday as, “Led by Kai-Fu Lee, former head of Google’s operations in the country, a group of more than 60 executives, investors and entrepreneurs signed a letter accusing China-focused short sellers—particularly Citron—of targeting legitimate companies with either no problems or minimal problems,”  the Wall Street Journal, in an article titled Chinese Backlash Hits Short Seller .  (the letter and list of executives is shown later in this post)

LongShortTrader believes that dozens of additional Chinese and US business leaders  (from the below list) should join Kai-Fu Lee’s quest against Citron Research:

Source: A Comprehensive Scorecard for Citron Research

And Don’t Forget These Guys: the C-level executives and members of the Board of Directors of the following should join as well: LFT, LEXG, DEER, MOBI, ZAGG, VVUS, NUS, QCOR, and Evergrande Real Estate Group (HK: 3333).

Oh, if you have a chance, check out the stock prices of all the names mentioned above…better yet, see if they even remain listed.

The above list shows Citron’s track record (as of Feb 2011; as a result, some of the results of today are better, some worse), the good and the bad. Andrew Left has had some bad misses (HRBN is one not on the list, but financially speaking, a big one) too.

Bottomline: The results and analysis speak for themselves. LST believes it’s much more appropriate  to gauge Left’s credibility by way of his track record and work, NOT what he was doing in his early 20s, or some private altercation that was resolved privately.

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Chinese Business Leaders Condemn Citron

Citron is an “investment analysis company” owned by Mr. Andrew Left, a man with a long record of fraud, deceit, and unlawful behavior. Citron’s reports take advantage of the information asymmetry between China and the US, and boldly tell lies, knowing that their American readers have no way of verifying them.  

We are investment professionals and company founders/executives in China.  We are joining together in this effort to expose and condemn the deception and ignorance of Citron and other short sellers like them.  This English website (citronfraud.com) is being created to host thisongoing fight against fraud. 

We urge investors to seek trustworthy professionals for investment advice regarding Chinese companies, and not rely on institutions and individuals with fraudulent history, falsified expertise, and interest conflict.

To Whom It May Concern:

For the past few years, a number of “China Short Sellers” have been publishing negative reports on Chinese companies (typically listed in the US).  When these reports were accurate and discovered problems in the Chinese companies, they have helped cleanse the environment.

However, recently some of these “China Short Sellers” started targeting legitimate companies with either no problems or minimal problems.  Their reports would take advantage of the information asymmetry between China and the US, and boldly tell lies, knowing that their American readers have no way of verifying them.  An example of such a report is Short Seller Citron Research’s report “Qihoo’s entry into search puts SOHU in play“, which has been critiqued by Dr. Kai-Fu Lee in his “China Short Sellers: Exposing Fraud, or Practicing Fraud?” We applaud Dr. Lee’s accurate exposure of Citron’s seven errors of gargantuan proportions.

We are investment professionals and company founders/executives in China.  We strongly believe there is a huge pool of legitimate, exciting, and valuable companies in China.  Citron and other short sellers’ recent efforts to slam legitimate companies and deceive investors are despicable.  We are joining together to expose and condemn the deception and ignorance of Citron and other short sellers like them.  This English website (citronfraud.com) is being created to host this ongoing fight against fraud.

Finally, China is not well understood by foreign investors, so we urge investors to seek trustworthy professionals for investment advice regarding Chinese companies, and not rely on institutions and individuals with fraudulent history, falsified expertise, and serious interest conflict.

Signed on behalf of individuals (listed alphabetically within each group):

Investment Companies
Bai Wentao, Founding Partner, Share Capital
Cha Li, Managing Partner, iStart Ventures LLC
Chen Datong, Managing Partner, West Summit Capital
York Chen, Managing Partner, IDTech Ventures
Cadol Cheung, Founding Partner, Fuel Capital
David Ho, Founder & Chairman, Kiina Ventures
Kai-Fu Lee, Chairman & CEO, Innovation Works
Li Yunlong, TusPark Ventures
James Mi, Managing Partner, Lightspeed Ventures
Gavin Ni, Managing Partner, Zero2IPO Ventures
Lawrence Pan, Founding Partner, China SageWater Capital, Inc.
Xu Xiaoping, Managing Partner, Zhen Fund
Charles Xue, Angel Investor
Andy Yan, Founding Partner, SAIF
Raymond Yang, Founding Partner, Taishan Invest
Ye Don, Tsing Capital
Charles Yen, Vice Chairman, Vincera Capital
Jeffrey Zeng, Senior Managing Director, Citic Capital
Zhou Wei, Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
David Zhang, Managing Partner, Matrix Partners
Allen Zhu, Partner, GSR Ventures

Company Executives
Feng Jun, Chairman & CEO, Aigo
He Boquan, Founder, Le Bai Shi (Robust)
Jiang Tao, President, CSDN
Ricky Lei, CEO, Hinge Software
Li Ya, COO, Phoenix New Media
Alvin Liu, Chairman & CEO, A8 Music Holdings, Ltd.
Richard Liu, Chairman & CEO, 360Buy.com
Liu Wei, President, Giant Interactive
Niu Wenwen, President & Chief Editor, Entrepreneur Magazine
Hera Siu, President, SAP China
Song Jun, Tsinghua Ziguang Group
Tan Zhi, Former President, Focus Media
Wang Xiaochuan, CTO of Sohu.com and CEO of Sogou
Charles Wu, Vice President, IBM Greater China
Nick Yang, co-Founder, Kongzhong
Yang Xiangyang, Chairman, Yuanzheng Ventures
Zhang Ya-Qin, President, Microsoft Asia R&D
Zhou Hongyi, Chairman & CEO, Qihoo 360

Investment Banking & Analysis/Consulting
Bao Fan, Chairman & CEO, China Renaissance
Chen Hong, Chairman & CEO, Hina Group
Wang Ran, Chairman & CEO, eCapital
Henry Yang, Chairman & CEO, iResearch

Entrepreneurs
Dai Kun, CEO, Comhui.com
Huang Guangming, CEO, Manboker
Lai Weixiao, CEO, Seeyoo
Evan Shen, CEO, Byban
Song Yanlin, CEO, Nanothink
Wang Yu, CEO, Shanghai Yuking Chemtech Co. Ltd
Xie Lei, CEO, Ormita Commerce Network
Xi Ming, CEO, Hunan Century-Express
Xu Hailing, CEO, Kiel Technology (HongKong) Ltd
Zeng Weijing, CEO, Tmimi
Zeng Zhaoxia, CEO, Cheeris
Vinson Zhang, CEO, Heroitte Analytics
Zhao Pu, CEO, O.C.T.mami
Zhao Xuesong, CEO, Mowidi
Allen Zhao, CEO, Earth&People
Zhou Xiang, CEO, Kancart
Zhu Nathan, CEO, Suzhou Langran Network Technology Co. Ltd
Zuo Lei, CEO, ThinkLand