March 17 (Reuters) – California-based fintech lender SoFi Technologies (SOFI)said on Tuesday that it may explore legal action against short seller Muddy Waters Research, calling its report “factually inaccurate and misleading.”
* Muddy Waters earlier on Tuesday revealed a short positionin SoFi, saying that the company “appears to have a materialmisstatement of at least $312 million of unrecorded debt. If weare correct, it raises the possibility that there are moreextensive misstatements we have not detected.” * During trading hours, the company’s shares fell as much as6.5% to $16.48 following the report. * “We have reviewed the full report and believe it isdesigned to deceive investors. SoFi maintains strong confidencein the integrity of our financial reporting,” the fintech said. * Muddy Waters did not respond to a Reuters request forcomment after regular business hours on SoFi’s intention toexplore potential legal action against the firm.
(Reporting by Rajveer Singh Pardesi in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)