They appear to be a research firm specializing in reporting on companies to which they own short positions.

If you go to read their articles at http://www.aureliusvalue.com/ you are immediately presented with a TOS that basically says as much. The TOS also makes some disclaimers that looks to be aimed at reducing the risk of them being held liable for spreading false/harmful information.

So given all this, It is only prudent to be skeptical.

“Appear”? The posted article outright identifies them as a short seller. I’m not disputing that someone may profit from the consequences of this allegation. I’m asking if we have reason to believe that the allegation itself is questionable, just because it may harm a company’s stock performance. Did the short seller fabricate it or conspire with the plaintiff?

If you have knowledge of an unreported event that could affect a company's stock price, then you can short the stock and do your best to promote the story through social media, hoping it makes the stock dip long enough for you to make some money.

Yes, I know what short-selling is. And I think everyone who read the article knows that a short-seller brought up this lawsuit, since it says so right in the article:

> Aurelius Value, a short-seller, highlighted the lawsuit in a report Thursday, saying the allegations could disrupt AeroVironment’s relationship with government agencies.

Maybe I should have been more specific in my question: I wanted to know if the parent commenter was asserting that the allegation itself is false/spurious.

Please consider the source before claims. This is become a very important step today esp. when a financial incentive exists. Aurelius Value have made or inflated other claims of this nature before and have been sued by companies for Short Seller Attacks. This fact should discount any claims or "research" they publish or assert.

This article should never have been published by Bloomberg based on Aurelius Value previous attacks. Either the Bloomberg article was auto generated from seeking alpha scrap, the reporters are incompetent, or the listed reporters have a relationship with Aurelius Value.

Now about the case:

The court filing is behind a paywall, but the case is listed as civil suit for unlawful termination. The case is NOT a criminal case nor is the case related to "smuggling a bomb" on a civilian flight. You can file anything in court. It's only a filing with a case number. There has been no judgement, trial, or any hearings listed other than it being entered into the court record. Also, there is a thing called FOIA that would backup up some of these incredible claims that a real research firm would request. So yeah it's a well planned and timed Short Sell Attack.

No, the filing is not behind a paywall. You can read it for yourself: http://aureliusvalue.com/content/uploads/2018/05/AVAV-whistl...

No one said this case was criminal. And yes, it is related to smuggling explosive materials onto a plane. And no, you can't "file anything in court" without risking a countersuit.