Billionaire investor Bill Ackman said he had not been contacted by federal agencies investigating possible manipulation of Herbalife Inc.'s stock.
The company's shares were up nearly 10 percent in early trading on Friday.
Ackman said in a CNBC interview that some people hired by Global Strategy Group, a consultancy working for his Pershing Square Capital Management LP, had received subpoenas from the Department of Justice.
The investor, who is short on Herbalife's shares, said he could not be certain if these people had made false statements to regulators about the company's business model.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter, that these statements were made in order to spur investigations into the company and lower its stock price.
Ackman has been betting against Herbalife's shares since 2012, claiming the company is a pyramid scheme — where new investors unwittingly fund the profits of older investors.
Regulators began investigating the company early last year.
Ackman said in January that the effective value of his bet on Herbalife was $1.2 billion.
"Herbalife is a pyramid scheme. It is a criminal enterprise," Ackman said on Friday, adding that the company was yet to dispute any of the charges made by Pershing Square.
Ackman said he was not worried about the investigation leading back to him. "People guilty of crimes don't go on network television the morning after a story appears in the Wall Street Journal."
Herbalife said in a statement on Thursday that Ackman had spent over $75 million on a "false and fabricated attack against Herbalife ... to enrich himself."
Ackman said he had not spent more than $50 million in his campaign against Herbalife, majority of which was legal fees.
Herbalife did not immediately comment on Ackman's statements when reached by Reuters.
The company's shares were up 9.4 percent at $36.37. Up to Thursday's close, they had lost 45 percent of their value in the last 12 months.
Pershing Square's Amsterdam-listed shares were down 3 percent.
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