Redditor who drove the GameStop short squeeze is being sued
- par Thibaud Popelin
- dans Monde
- — Fév 18, 2021
Billionaire executives at the center of the GameStop stock trading controversy will testify before the House Financial Services Committee Thursday, where they'll be sitting across from lawmakers whose campaigns benefitted from their big-dollar donations.
Gill gained a following as he documented his "YOLO" trade in GameStop on Reddit's Wall Street Bets forum for more than a year.
The complaint against Gill alleges that he, "slyly targeted large hedge funds who had shorted GameStop stock as the evil, powerful big boys" and "characterized securities professionals as villains". The House Financial Services Committee is convening a noon hearing to hear from major players touching several facets of the story. "I had no information about GameStop except what was public".
Even before the stock skyrocketed, Gill claims his GameStop trade made him a millionaire.
'I believed - and I continue to believe - that GameStop has the potential to reinvent itself as the ultimate destination for gamers within the thriving $200 billion gaming industry, ' Gill added of the struggling retail chain. The prevailing analysis about GameStop's impending doom was simply wrong, ' Gill said in the testimony.
Gill said in his remarks that the market was underestimating GameStop's growth prospects and overestimating the likelihood the video game company would go bankrupt.
GameStop stock rose by over 1,700 percent during one rally in January as small investors pushed it to a record high of $483. "I was abundantly clear that my channel was for educational purposes only, and that my aggressive style of investing was unlikely to be suitable for most folks checking out the channel".
'Whether other individual investors bought the stock was irrelevant to my thesis - my focus was on the fundamentals of the business, ' he said.
"Gill's deceitful and manipulative conduct not only violated numerous industry regulations and rules, but also various securities laws by undermining the integrity of the market for GameStop shares", the proposed class action suit says. The lawsuit also named Mass Mutual and a brokerage subsidiary of the company as defendants, saying they had an obligation to supervise Gill's activities in the market.
The lawsuit against Gill provided a greater extensive background into who Roaring Kitty actually is, a "highly sophisticated and calculated investor" who is a registered stockbroker at MassMutual in Boston, MA.
The company told MA regulators it was unaware of Mr Gill's outside activities.
Gill, whose YouTube channel has 417,000 subscribers, has said he was educating investors about his investment philosophy. The spike in stock price drew the ire of short investors who stood to lose fortunes, forcing the Robinhood investment app to impose restrictions on GameStop stock trade, and ultimately drawing a USA congressional hearing as U.S. officials debated the integrity of actions such as short trading and stock purchase restrictions.
The GameStop surge resulted in massive losses for Melvin, after the hedge fund bet the retailer´s stock price would tumble.
Rep. Maxine Waters will preside of Thursday's hearing, entitled "Game Stopped?" Gabriel Plotkin, Melvin Capital's founder and chief investment officer, will also appear at the hearing.
Pictured is Citadel CEO and influential political donor Ken Griffin.
Democrats and Republicans are united in their outrage by Robinhood's decision to suspend trading in the so-called "meme stocks" on January 28.
Tenev says Robinhood imposed the trading restrictions exclusively to meet capital requirements set by regulators.
Chicago-based Citadel stepped in with a few other funds to rescue Melvin Capital Management after it sustained billions in losses on its GameStop bets.
The virtual hearing, entitled 'Game Stopped?
