The claim was made by Muddy Waters Research, a firm that "sees through appearances to a Chinese company's true worth", and which shorted Sino-Forest's stock.
This month, a special board committee said it found no fraud at the company in response to a Muddy Waters report this year that said the forestry firm misrepresented the value of its timber holdings.
Muddy Waters accused Focus Media of overstating the number of TV screens in its network and of hiding losses by deliberately overpaying for acquisitions.
Fanning the flames is an army of private investigators, bloggers and Wall Street short-sellers that hope to profit from the stock-market implosions, like Muddy Waters.
专家称，这一切始于美国歌手兼吉他手马迪·沃特斯(Muddy Waters)的一首歌。
Experts say it all started with a song by the American singer and guitarist Muddy Waters.
