(Reuters) – The YouTube stream, known as Roaring Kitty, which has helped boost interest in GameStop Corp., will make a statement to a House panel on Thursday alongside top hedge fund managers.
The House Financial Services Committee is examining how an apparent flood of retail trading has taken GameStop and other stocks to extreme highs, raising hedge funds such as Melvin Capital, which has bet against it.
The list of witnesses was announced Friday by Congresswoman Maxine Waters and includes Keith Gill, who is also Roaring Kitty, Robinhood executive director Vlad Tenev, Citadel executive director Kenneth Griffin, Melvin executive director Gabriel Plotkin, and Reddit executive director, Steve Huffman.
The virtual audition, entitled “Has the Game Stopped? Who wins and loses when short sellers, social media and retail investors collide, “will take place on February 18 at 1200 ET (1700 GMT), according to the press release and will be broadcast live here. Waters, a Democrat, is Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.
“We are working with the House Financial Services Committee and intend to testify,” Huffman of Reddit said in an email. Representatives for Melvin, Citadel and Robinhood did not respond to requests for comment. Gill could not be reached for comment.
Robinhood, Reddit, Melvin and Citadel were at the center of the GameStop saga, which saw retailers promoting GameStop on the Reddit WallStreetBets forum. Robinhood emerged as a popular place for stock trading, but was criticized for temporarily restricting the trading of hot shares.
The rise of GameStop has led to massive losses for Melvin, after the hedge fund bet that the retailer’s stock price will fall. Citadel hedge funds, along with founder Griffin and firm partners, gave Melvin $ 2 billion.
Democrats and Republicans are united in their outrage by Robinhood’s decision to suspend trading on January 28 so-called “meme stocks.” Tenev said the company had to impose restrictions after wildly trading the shares triggered a $ 3 billion Robinhood Clearing House margin, straining the company’s balance sheet.
Massachusetts regulators also issued a subpoena to request Gill’s testimony.
Reporting by Michelle Price and Megan Davies, additional reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss and John McCrank; Edited by Sonya Hepinstall and Daniel Wallis