Keith Gill, a Massachusetts investor who gained fame and fortune by promoting the shares of GameStop Inc., drew the attention of the state’s top financial regulator, the New York Times reported Thursday.
William Galvin, the Commonwealth Secretary of Massachusetts, became interested after it was revealed that Gill is a registered securities broker who worked as a director of financial welfare education at an insurance company until January 28, according to the report.
Galvin, the state’s financial regulator, sent a letter to Gill’s former employer MassMutual, asking for details on how the company monitors employees’ undisclosed business activities and use of social media, the report said.
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Gill, who bears the username “Roaring Kitty” on YouTube and posts under the pseudonym “DeepF – ingValue” on the popular Reddit forum WallStreetBets, allegedly made tens of millions of dollars by trading GameStop GME shares,
and options.
The news comes a day after Rep. Maxine Waters of California, the Democratic chair of the House Financial Services Committee, told Cheddar TV that Gill will testify on Capitol Hill later this month.
As a registered securities broker, Gill has a higher risk of exposure to civil penalties than a typical retailer because the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the self-regulatory body for the securities industry, requires brokers to refrain from to do [or] misleading statements, exaggerated statements and material omissions ”on social media, according to the Times.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is scheduled to host a meeting with top federal regulators on Thursday to address recent market volatility around shares that have been heavily promoted on social media, including GameStop GME,
and AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. I HAVE C,
Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday that the Securities and Exchange Commission is actively investigating social media posts along with trading data to see if the posts were part of a concerted effort to manipulate the price of these so-called memes.