A group of 61 Chinese Internet industry leaders complained about short seller Citron Research in a joint letter dated Sept 4 for what they called unfair and inaccurate attacks on Chinese companies listed in the US.

The move came after several short sellers published negative reports on Chinese companies, some of which eventually forced Chinese companies to delist.

While some reports "discovered problems in the Chinese companies", some China-focused short sellers, especially Citron, "started targeting legitimate companies with either no problems or minimal problems", the joint letter said.

"Their reports would take advantage of the information asymmetry between China and the US, and boldly tell lies, knowing that their American readers have no way of verifying them."

The letter followed Citron's report about Qihoo 360 Technology Co, a popular Web-browser company that entered the Web-search sector last month.

The letter-writing group, which includes executives, investors and entrepreneurs, is led by Kai-Fu Lee, the former head of Google Inc's operations in China.

Citron founder Andrew Left defended his company's reports.

"Movements only evolve around real threats," Left said, according to a Wall Street Journal report. He added that Lee has distorted his reports.

"If what I wrote was false, then you wouldn't need a movement around it. ... I am more than happy to defend (my statements) in a court of law," he was quoted as saying.

The Chinese industry leaders also created a new English-language website, Citronfraud.com, to point out what they consider false statements about Chinese companies.