US short seller firm Hindenburg Research has dropped a bombshell report against Jack Dorsey-led payments firm Block Inc and the firm’s Indian-American CFO Amrita Ahuja has come under the scanner for allegedly dumping the firm’s shares.
On Thursday, Hindenburg has accused co-founders Jack Dorsey and James McKelvey along with executives, including Chief Financial Officer Amrita Ahuja, and the lead manager for Cash App, Brian Grassadonia, of “dumping millions of dollars in stock.”
“As Block’s stock soared on the back of its facilitation of fraud, co-founders Jack Dorsey and James McKelvey collectively sold over $1 billion of stock during the pandemic. Other executives, including CFO Amrita Ahuja and the lead manager for Cash App Brian Grassadonia, also dumped millions of dollars in stock,” the report stated.
Ahuja is an Indian-American executive who rose to the ranks to become the company’s CFO in February this year. Here’s all you need to know about her.
Ahuja is an alumnus of premium universities such as London School of Economics, Duke University and Harvard Business School.
Before joining Block in 2019, she worked with business behemoths such as Airbnb, McKinsey & Company, The Walt Disney Company, among others.
She started her journey as an investment banker with consulting firm Morgan Stanley in 2001.
According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, Ahuja is the daughter of Indian immigrants who owned a day-care center in a suburb of Cleveland.
While working at Fox, she played a role in launching the streaming service Hulu. In addition, at Activision Blizzard which is the maker of games such as “Call of Duty,” “Candy Crush” and “World of Warcraft,” she helped transition the video gaming company’s business model from one dominated by in-store sales around the holidays to one defined by an online, always-on, multiplayer experience.
She was featured in Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit in 2022.
Also Read: Hindenburg Research shorts Jack Dorsey’s payments firm Block
The US short seller’s report comes two months after its explosive allegations against Adani Group wiped more than $100 billion off the conglomerate’s market value.
And now, Block seems to be its latest target.
“Our 2-year investigation has concluded that Block has systematically taken advantage of the demographics it claims to be helping,” Hindenburg said about the report.