Shares in Carl Icahn’s hedge fund slumped by 20% on Wednesday after the firm revealed that federal prosecutors requested documents from the company just a day after Hindenburg Research took a short position on the firm, according to a report by the New York Post.
The report cites a filing made with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday that the US Attorney in the Southern District of New York contacted Icahn Enterprises on 3 May “seeking production of information” about its corporate governance as well as “capitalization, securities offerings, dividends, valuation, marketing materials, due diligence, and other materials.”
Icahn Enterprises said in the filing that it is cooperating with the request.
The fund’s 87-year-old founder has seen his net worth plummet by more than $10 billion since Hindenburg Research took a short position on Icahn Enterprises after accusing the holding company, whose portfolio includes companies that specialise in energy, automotive, food packaging, real estate, and metals, of operating a “Ponzi-like” structure that has falsely inflated the value of investments.
Icahn, whose net worth has fallen from around $25 billion at the end of April to around $14.4 billion as of Wednesday, according to Bloomberg, has vowed “to protect our unitholders and fight back.”
