Hindenburg claims it hardly made money by shorting Adani stocks & bonds

It also made $31,000 by shorting Adani's US bonds, which Hindenburg said was a tiny position.

"Net of legal and research expenses (including time, salaries/compensation, and costs for a 2-year global investigation) we may come out ahead of break even on our Adani short," Hindenburg said.

Denying reports that it had 12-16 investor partners which made millions of dollars, the short seller said, "The reality, as detailed in the show cause notice, is less dramatic. We only had one investor relationship in our Adani thesis, as is customary for our approach and as we have discussed in multiple public interviews."

Hindenburg said its work exposing the Adani Group was not financially justifiable and even less justifiable from a personal risk and safety perspective.

"But, to date, our research on Adani is by far the work we are most proud of," it said, alleging that Sebi has neglected its responsibility, seemingly doing more to protect those perpetrating fraud than to protect the investors being victimized by it.

"The incentives are clear: The gains from fraudulent activities outweigh the small risks of a potential 'slap on the wrist’ fine from regulators. And based on the hundreds of tips and leads we received following the Adani report, Adani is by no means the only lurking and ongoing issue Sebi has failed to address," Hindenburg said.