Investor Barry Honig Details Devastating Impact Of Andrew Left’s Fraud On His $20M Investment And A Promising Biotech Company

In an interview on September 24, 2025 with prominent investor Barry Honig, he laid bare the human and financial toll of Andrew Left’s multimillion-dollar stock manipulation scheme, accusing the disgraced short-seller of deliberately torpedoing a regenerative medicine startup Honig backed with $20 million of his own funds.

Left, the founder of Citron Research, was indicted and charged in July of 2024 on securities fraud charges and market manipulation over a decade-long conspiracy that netted him and his associates over $16 million by publishing false reports to tank stock prices after short-selling them. Now awaiting his trial on March 17, 2026 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Left faces up to 20 years in prison. In the comments Honig shared, he painted a vivid picture of one of the scheme’s most poignant casualties: PolarityTE, a Salt Lake City, Utah based biotech firm whose collapse erased innovation, jobs, and hope for patients.

How Honig’s Visionary Investment Was Crushed by Lies

Honig, a veteran biotech investor known for backing early-stage medical innovations, helped found PolarityTE at the end of 2016. The former John Hopkins doctors pioneered a “miraculous” regenerative tissue engineering technology aimed at transforming wound care and surgical reconstruction—potentially benefiting tens of thousands of patients with chronic wounds and burns.

“I believed in the potential positive impacts its technologies could bring to the world,” Honig commented. Between 2016 to 2018, he poured $20 million into Polarity becoming its largest shareholder with nearly 10% ownership by mid-2017. Beyond cash, Honig helped recruit top medical and scientific talent to bolster clinical trials, viewing the venture not just as a financial play but as a mission to advance healing.

That momentum was shattered on June 25, 2018, when PolarityTE became one of nearly two dozen targets in Left’s racketeering plot, as detailed in a 2024 indictment by the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Prosecutors alleged that Left and co-conspirators fabricated reports to drive down stock prices, then profited by betting against the shares. For PolarityTE (ticker: PTE/COOL), Left’s Citron Research blasted out a report branding the company a “fraud,” falsely claiming a key patent had received a “final rejection” from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and urging the SEC to halt trading.

“These were not honest expressions of opinion, nor were they part of legitimate market analysis,” Honig stated. “They were calculated lies designed to enrich himself at the expense of others.”

The smear worked as intended. PolarityTE’s stock plunged approximately 30% over the day following the publication of Left’s report, and spiraled to zero over the subsequent years.

The fallout triggered a securities class-action lawsuit and an SEC investigation, grinding the company’s operations to a halt. Though vindicated later, the USPTO ultimately approved the patent, the lawsuit was dismissed, and the SEC issued a no-action letter, but the damage was irreversible. PolarityTE filed for bankruptcy in 2023, wiping out years of research and erasing Honig’s entire investment.

Calculating Honig’s Damages

Honig’s losses, while staggering, is just the tip of the iceberg, he argues. The fraud’s ripples devastated employees who lost jobs and livelihoods, patients who forfeited access to groundbreaking therapies, and everyday shareholders who trusted the markets’ integrity.

“Being defrauded in this manner is not only economically painful, but also emotionally exhausting,” Honig said, describing a profound sense of betrayal after years of supporting innovative businesses. “Seeing one of them destroyed not by natural forces, but by lies, has been deeply disheartening.”

PolarityTE’s story underscores the broader threat Left’s tactics posed to U.S. innovation, Honig contends. Financial markets fuel risk-taking by scientists and entrepreneurs; fraud like Left’s “corrodes that system from within,” eroding trust that’s “far harder to rebuild.”

Federal prosecutors echoed this in court filings, noting Left’s scheme manipulated at least 23 companies across sectors, including biotech, and involved undisclosed payments from hedge funds, which included Anson Funds, and fake personas to amplify the deceit. Andrew Left is scheduled to stand trial on March 17, 2026, for alleged criminal fraud, following accusations of manipulating stock prices and misusing his influence as a market commentator. The trial, initially set for September 2025, was rescheduled after a federal court rejected Left’s motion to dismiss the indictment in July 2025, paving the way for the high-profile case to proceed.

Honig’s Calls for Justice Serve As A Warning To Others

As Left’s trial looms, Honig urges Judge Carter to impose a penalty reflecting the fraud’s “devastating real-world consequences”, not as a “technical violation” but a calculated assault on fairness. “No sentence can restore my lost investment or resurrect the company,” he said, but an appropriate sentence can send a clear message that fraud will not be tolerated.”

Honig shared with me his damages exceed $50 million. And he has suffered severe reputational damage, as well as anxiety, sleep loss, anger, and difficulty concentrating. Further elaborating on his financial damages, Honig said, “By mid-2017, I had become one of the largest investors in PolarityTE, ultimately owning just under 10% of the company. Because the company was doing well, the value of my PolarityTE securities had grown to nearly $70 million. My investment was not just financial. It represented my belief in the company’s potential to help thousands of patients in need.”

Left’s defense has portrayed him as a flawed but influential market watchdog, but victims like Honig reject that narrative. In my interview with him, Honig demands accountability to deter future predators: “He should be held fully responsible for the harm he has inflicted.” Despite the damage he caused, Left is still pursuing a pardon for his offenses. While Honig has suffered greatly on a personal level, he wants the judge to know this isn’t just about him, Honig said, “The impact of Left’s crimes extend beyond me as an individual. PolarityTE’s employees, patients, and stakeholders were harmed. Families lost livelihoods. Patients lost access to hope for future therapies. Shareholders large and small lost their investments. The company itself—the embodiment of years of research and innovation—was nearly destroyed. One man’s fraudulent greed inflicted pain on an entire community.”

The case highlights ongoing scrutiny of short-selling practices, with regulators and lawmakers debating reforms to curb abusive tactics. For now, Honig’s voice joins a chorus of victims seeking closure in a saga that exposed the dark underbelly of Wall Street’s influence game.

This sentiment was echoed online, with Loomer highlighting the case on X.