'Ant Rebellion Leader Controversy' Jil... Appeals "Not Involved" at House Hearing

(Source: NYT)

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] A YouTuber who led the retail investors' rebellion against hedge fund short selling is preparing to deny related allegations at a U.S. House hearing, according to reports by The New York Times (NYT) and others.

Keith Gill, accused of leading the GameStop buying campaign through the internet community Reddit and his YouTube channel, is scheduled to appear before the House Financial Services Committee hearing on the 18th (local time) and is expected to state that "he never forced anyone to buy or sell GameStop shares for his own benefit." He began accumulating GameStop shares in June 2019 when the stock price was around $5 and consistently posted messages on Reddit for two years encouraging the purchase of GameStop shares.

Prior to the hearing, Gill stated in a five-page written response that "(the posts on Reddit) are unrelated to his work at Massachusetts Mutual." He argued, "The idea that I used social media to induce investors to buy GameStop shares is absurd," adding, "I made it clear that my channel is used solely for educational purposes and that an aggressive and speculative investment style would not be suitable for my YouTube channel."

Gill, who worked at Massachusetts Mutual, opened a YouTube channel called "Roaring Kitty" last summer and is accused of leading the retail investors' rebellion against hedge fund short selling. Experts have pointed out the possibility that he violated internal financial industry regulations based on the timing of when he sold GameStop shares and when he submitted his resignation to the company.

In addition to Gill, the House hearing will feature testimony from key figures at companies central to short selling, including Vlad Tenev, CEO of Robinhood; Ken Griffin, CEO of Citadel Securities; Gabe Plotkin, CEO of Melvin Capital; and Steve Huffman, co-founder of Reddit.

Robinhood CEO Tenev, who faced heavy criticism for restricting retail investors' GameStop trading, explained in a response submitted to Senator Elizabeth Warren that the company had no choice but to limit trading due to a lack of cash to cover the required deposit, according to Fox News.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Wall Street's regulatory agency, is reviewing institutional measures to ensure transparency in short selling transactions in light of the GameStop incident. According to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), the SEC plans to partially disclose policy revision plans at this hearing, including factors that caused the rapid rise and collapse of GameStop's stock price and the potential revival of the short selling-related 'Dodd-Frank Act.'

Introduced after the global financial crisis to reform Wall Street, this legislation was effectively dismantled during the pro-business Trump administration. According to this law, all listed companies are required to disclose short selling volume (balances and trades) once a month.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.