Shares of Hellbiz Inc. HLBZ skyrocketed 143.3% toward a three-month high on massive volume in morning trading Friday, after the New York-based e-scooters and e-bicycles provider said it was evaluating measures to address alleged illegal short selling, or bearish bets, on its common stock. Trading volume exploded to 216.9 million shares, to make the stock the most actively traded on major U.S. exchanges. The company said it was following the example set by Genius Group Ltd’s GNS book, which saw it’s stock blast off more than seven-fold in 2 days through Friday morning trading after the Singapore-based education technology company appointed a former director of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations to investigate illegal short selling. Hellbiz said it in a statement Friday that it believes “certain individuals and/or companies may have engaged in illegal short selling practices that have artificially depressed the stock price.” The stock had plummeted 64% over the past three months through Thursday’s close of 12.31 cents, which was just above the Dec. 28 record-low close of 11.42 cents.
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