Keith Gill, known as Roaring Kitty on YouTube and DeepF***ingValue on the WallStreetBets subreddit, testified in front of the House Financial Services Committee from his home, seated on a gaming chair.
At the end of January, GameStop’s stock prices surged by 1600% after a large number of Redditors collectively bought up all of GameStop’s stock, putting multi-billion dollar hedge funds on the back-foot as they had taken up dangerous short positions in bets against GameStop’s survival. While those hedge funds incurred massive losses, it’s reported that Keith Gill made $48 million from his relatively small initial investment of $50,000.
Those profits are now the epicentre of a class action lawsuit which alleges that Gill misrepresented himself as an amateur trader when he is, in fact, a professional in the financial industry. The suit also alleges that Gill used his popularity on YouTube and Reddit to manipulate people into purchasing more of GameStop’s stock.
Gill is set to appear in court, but before that he testified to the House Financial Committee virtually while sat in a Secret Lab Omega House Lannister gamer chair. It is considered official merchandise of Game of Thrones and is available in a variety of colours. The one Gill owns is outfitted in red leather and black suede.
While Gill is not the only person to be involved in the GameStop stock price surge, he has become somewhat of a cult figure and hero to the traders on WallStreetBets. Some even say that the picture of the cat in his background is an indication to his fans to “hang in there”. There is a widespread belief in the subreddit that a second short squeeze might be coming as there are still several short positions open on GME.
We’ll have to wait and see if we’re going to be getting a sequel to this saga, but one thing is for certain: this truly was a historical moment for the financial world.
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