In a story that reads like a thriller straight out of Wall Street’s underbelly, Quantum BioPharma (QNTM stock), a Canadian biotech company racing toward a potential breakthrough in multiple sclerosis treatment, has filed a staggering $700 million lawsuit against some of the country’s biggest financial institutions.

The allegations? A calculated campaign of stock market manipulation—including spoofing and naked short selling—that tanked the company’s shares and wiped out nearly all value for everyday investors.

But beyond the courtroom drama, this case is igniting a firestorm on social media, where frustrated retail investors are rallying against what they see as a rigged system protected by U.S. regulators.

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Details of the Report

The bombshell comes courtesy of a hard-hitting investigative segment aired last night on CTV National News, part of their W5 series.

Titled “CTV Investigation: Inside Quantum BioPharma’s $700M Spoofing Case and MS Research Breakthroughs,” the report peels back the layers on how promising science collided with alleged financial foul play.

Hosted by Sandie Rinaldo and reported by John Woodward, it lays out a narrative that’s equal parts heartbreaking and infuriating: a drug that could change lives for millions with MS, derailed not by lab failures, but by shadowy trading tactics.

Let’s start with the science, because that’s where the hope lives.

Quantum BioPharma has been developing a novel treatment targeting a newly discovered pathway for myelin damage—the protective sheath around nerves that breaks down in MS, leaving patients with debilitating symptoms like paralysis and vision loss.

In a striking demonstration featured in the report, footage shows a mouse model with nerve damage mimicking MS.

After treatment, the animal goes from limping to walking normally in just six weeks.

It’s the kind of visual that grabs you by the gut, a glimpse of what could be if this makes it to human trials.

But here’s the gut punch: Despite these advancements, the company’s stock plummeted, erasing 98% of investor value.

Why? Quantum’s own probe into trading data across Canada and the U.S. uncovered patterns of spoofing—fake orders placed to trick the market into false movements—and naked short selling, where shares are sold short without being borrowed first, flooding the market with phantom supply.

The result? A share price so low it spiraled into what one insider called a “tail spin,” making it nearly impossible to raise the funds needed for clinical trials.

Why The Price of the Stock Matters for The Company

Enter Alex Bar, an Ontario-based animator living with MS who joined Quantum’s board out of sheer belief in the drug.

In a raw interview that hits like a freight train, Bar states:

“The low share price sent the company into a tail spin. And as a result of that, it means that it’s much harder to raise money. And if they can’t raise money, they can’t do the trials to prove that the research works in people for people like me. And that drug will never become accessible to people who need it.”

Bar’s words aren’t just personal—they echo the desperation felt by thousands of retail investors who poured their savings into Quantum, only to watch it evaporate.

This isn’t your run-of-the-mill market dip, the report stresses.

Normal volatility happens, but this? It’s a pattern that screams interference, one that’s now headed to court against heavyweights in Canada’s financial sector.

And while the lawsuit is filed north of the border, the ripples are crashing hard into the U.S., where similar tactics have long plagued small-cap stocks.

Quantum’s investigation even delved into American trading data, shining a light on cross-border shenanigans that U.S. watchdogs like the SEC and FINRA have been accused of turning a blind eye to.

That brings us to the online uproar, where investor sentiment on X (formerly Twitter) is boiling over into a full-throated war cry against market manipulators.

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Retail Investor Sentiment

Scroll through the platform, and you’ll find a groundswell of retail warriors—veterans of battles like GameStop and AMC—channeling their fury into calls for accountability.

Dark pools—off-exchange trading venues that obscure activity—are a frequent villain, accused of letting big players manipulate without scrutiny.

And the sentiment? Resigned but resolute.

“Retail has zero advantages anymore when the very agencies meant to protect investors are complicit,” one trader lamented, nodding to paid shills flooding platforms to drown out truth.

Yet amid the anger, there’s a spark of defiance.

Posts celebrate CEOs and countries cracking down—think Turkey’s recent arrests of eight alleged manipulators on the Borsa Istanbul, or calls for on-chain corporate registrations to sidestep U.S. leverage abuses.

@JohnW_Forster, a fintech advocate, argues dual-listings abroad could “thwart US market manipulators,” citing Quantum’s woes as exhibit A.

It’s a strategy gaining traction, with investors cheering moves that force transparency.

What makes this case newsworthy isn’t just the dollar figure—it’s the human cost.

What Happens Next?

For every Alex Bar waiting on a miracle drug, there’s a retiree staring at a gutted portfolio, convinced the system’s stacked against them.

And on X, that conviction is fueling a movement: exposure montages, calls to tag @SECGov and @POTUS, demands for Paul Atkins to “DO YOUR JOB.”

As one post put it, “EXPOSURE IS GROWING RAPIDLY… IT’S BECOMING TOO BIG TO IGNORE.”

As the lawsuit grinds forward, one thing’s clear: This isn’t ending in a quiet settlement.

Investors, from Toronto boardrooms to Twitter trenches, are done being pawns.

They’re demanding justice—not just for Quantum, but for every small player squeezed by the machine.

QNTM stock is currently up nearly 42% at the time of this writing.

Will regulators finally step up, or will the courts have to drag them there? Stay tuned; this fight’s just heating up.

Also Read: Short Sellers Are Now Throwing One Another Under the Bus

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