NEW YORK, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Prominent short seller

Andrew Left is pressing a judge to dismiss U.S. charges that he

manipulated the market and defrauded investors with his negative

reports about companies, according to a document filed in

federal court on Monday.

U.S. authorities charged Left, the founder of Citron

Capital, in July, alleging he had for years made misleading

claims about his positions in multiple stocks, including Nvidia ( NVDA )

and Tesla. The case was the culmination of a

years-long probe by the Justice Department into short sellers'

trading activities.

In a motion to dismiss the charges filed in federal court in

California on Monday, Left's lawyer said prosecutors' claims

relate to the trader's opinions and the government failed to

prove Left did not believe them. The information at issue was

also not material to investors and Left had no responsibility to

disclose it, the filing said.

"Concealing economic information necessary for others to

make discretionary economic decisions is not fraud," Left's

lawyer James Spertus said in the filing.

The U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles, which filed the

charges, could not be reached immediately for request for

comment.