Close Menu
Technology Mag

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the latest creative news from FooBar about art, design and business.

    What's Hot

    They’re trying to make deep-sea mining happen

    August 24, 2025

    The Framework Desktop and Linux have shown me the path to PC gaming in the living room

    August 24, 2025

    The West Texas Measles Outbreak Has Ended

    August 24, 2025
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    Subscribe
    Technology Mag
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube
    • Home
    • News
    • Business
    • Games
    • Gear
    • Reviews
    • Science
    • Security
    • Trending
    • Press Release
    Technology Mag
    Home » Roaring Kitty Is Playing With Fire
    Business

    Roaring Kitty Is Playing With Fire

    News RoomBy News RoomJune 10, 20244 Mins Read
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Reddit WhatsApp Email

    Gill did not face charges then, but this time could be different. The securities regulator for the state of Massachusetts has confirmed it is looking into Gill’s recent conduct, without providing specifics. It would appear that Gill is aware of the risk of provoking an SEC investigation. On May 16 he posted a clip of a CNBC interview in which Jay Clayton, former SEC chair, expressed the view that his conduct should not be tolerated. The SEC declined to comment on the existence of an investigation.

    At the start of Gill’s YouTube livestream, a long disclaimer scrolled up the screen like the Star Wars opening crawl. “You should not treat any opinion expressed on this Youtube [sic] channel as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy,” it read. As Gill bantered with his YouTube viewers—all 600,000 of them—the price of GameStop stock briefly rose. “Shit, look at this. It’s going up,” he said. “Do I have to be careful what I say here? I don’t really know.”

    It might seem self-evident that Gill’s posts, cryptic as they may be, have caused a rise in the price of GameStop stock from which he stands to profit, as a stockholder. But absent a full history of his trading, it is difficult to assess whether he has violated securities laws, says Richard Schulman, partner at law firm Adler & Stachenfeld. “It’s never entirely clear until the facts are fully formed,” he says.

    But Gill has given regulators plenty to dig into. “Was his purpose to influence the movement of stock price? Did he, in fact, affect demand for the stock? Will he profit from these activities? These are the kinds of issues a regulator will want to investigate,” says Schulman. The answers could determine whether Gill faces a formal investigation.

    Specifically, Gill could find himself in trouble when his call options expire on June 21, leaving him with a decision: Should he sell his options at a profit, if the stock price remains high, or take delivery of the GameStop shares they represent? Having made his position public, says Bragança, Gill is required under a little-understood facet of securities law to provide his audience with advance warning of any sales, even if doing so would jeopardize profits. “The problem is when you change your position,” says Bragança. “Before you sell, you’d better tell the marketplace. Most people on social media don’t think that way. The initial [social] posts are not the thing that is going to get him in trouble—it’s the stuff we can’t see.”

    Gill may question how his conduct differs from any other pundit who offers stock tips or chief executive who talks up their company. And he could have a point. There is an extent to which Gill is flirting with gray areas in the securities rulebook, devised long before someone imagined an influencer in a position to swing the market with a single tweet.

    But the SEC has typically contended that the rules are sufficiently malleable to allow for mutations of age-old violations to be dealt with. “Market manipulation is not necessarily a rigid concept,” says Schulman. “The SEC is not unused to trying to apply concepts to new situations in the world that has developed.”

    The SEC has not made public its thinking, but former chair Clayton, in the interview with CNBC, implied that the agency will be eager to prevent further volatility in the price of GameStop, which risks imposing large-scale losses on investors. One way to do that would be to bring cases against an individual that it considers has wielded social influence in an illegal way, with the aim of deterring others from doing the same. “It’s like Aesop’s fables,” says Bragança. “We’re telling a story. You should take a moral from it.”

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Email
    Previous ArticleDoom: The Dark Ages is launching in 2025
    Next Article Xbox chief confirms more games are coming to other platforms

    Related Posts

    Join Us for WIRED’s “Uncanny Valley” Live

    August 22, 2025

    Kanye West Said Memecoins ‘Prey On Fans.’ Then He Apparently Launched One

    August 22, 2025

    Africa Is Buying a Record Number of Chinese Solar Panels

    August 22, 2025

    Trump Is Betting Big on Intel. Will the Chips Fall His Way?

    August 22, 2025

    Why Did a $10 Billion Startup Let Me Vibe-Code for Them—and Why Did I Love It?

    August 21, 2025

    Do Large Language Models Dream of AI Agents?

    August 21, 2025
    Our Picks

    The Framework Desktop and Linux have shown me the path to PC gaming in the living room

    August 24, 2025

    The West Texas Measles Outbreak Has Ended

    August 24, 2025

    I Would Walk 500 Miles Wearing Any of These GoPro Cameras

    August 24, 2025

    The Rad ‘Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4’ Remasters Are $15 Off Right Now

    August 24, 2025
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Pinterest
    • Instagram
    • YouTube
    • Vimeo
    Don't Miss
    News

    The most fun way to look through old photos

    By News RoomAugust 24, 2025

    Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 95, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff…

    Meet Wukong, the AI Chatbot China Has Installed on Its Space Station

    August 24, 2025

    Is It Ever Legal—or Ethical—to Remove DRM?

    August 24, 2025

    A Super-Energetic Neutrino That Reached Earth in 2023 Has Been Confirmed to Be Real. But Where Did It Come From?

    August 23, 2025
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of use
    • Advertise
    • Contact
    © 2025 Technology Mag. All Rights Reserved.

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.