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Shortly after being summoned as a witness for the upcoming Congressional hearing about Reddit and the GameStop stock price surge, Reddit user Keith Gill aka Roaring Kitty is now facing a class action lawsuit for allegedly manipulating the market.
The filing claims that Gill is not in fact an amateur retail investor but instead a licensed securities professional who profited from a short squeeze of GameStop by manipulating the market. According to the lawsuit, Gill “actively worked as a professional in the investment and financial industries” for years, holding a number of securities qualifications including a Charted Financial Analyst license and previously working for the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company as a director.
February 17th, 2021
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One of the most prominent figures on the WallStreetBets subreddit that sent GameStop stock skyrocketing has been slapped with a lawsuit. The suit alleges Keith Gill (aka Roaring Kitty) is a licensed securities professional instead of an amateur investor and it claims he profited from the GameStop short squeeze by manipulating the market.
“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. “He caused enormous losses not only to those who bought option contracts, but also to those who fell for Gill’s act and bought GameStop stock during the market frenzy at greatly inflated prices.”
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Keith Gill, one of the most well-known Reddit users involved in the GameStop stock surge who branded himself as a hobby investor, was hit with a class-action lawsuit accusing him of deception and market manipulation.
Known on the internet as Roaring Kitty and DeepF -ingValue, Gill was an active contributor to Reddit s r/WallStreetBets thread, in which he frequently encouraged users to buy shares of GameStop, the value of which surged more than 1,000% in January.
GameStop, previously one of the most shorted stocks on the market, surged from less than $18 in the beginning of January to a closing high of $347 on Jan. 27, triggering a massive short squeeze that cost some hedge funds billions of dollars. But after online brokerages introduced trading restrictions on GameStop and other retro stocks that had gained attention on Reddit, the value of the stock plummeted back below $50, costing retail traders hundreds of thousands of dollars.