Roaring Kitty to testify on GameStop alongside hedge fund managers

Citadel Income Fund

13/02/2021 01:50

Feb 12 (Reuters) - The YouTube streamer known as Roaring
Kitty, who helped drive a surge of interest in GameStop Corp
 GME.N , will testify before a House panel on Thursday alongside
top hedge fund managers. 
    The House Financial Services Committee is examining how an
apparent flood of retail trading drove GameStop and other shares
to extreme highs, squeezing hedge funds like Melvin Capital that
had bet against it.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2KG1L9
    The witness list was announced on Friday by Congresswoman
Maxine Waters and includes Keith Gill, who also goes by Roaring
Kitty, Robinhood chief executive Vlad  Tenev, Citadel chief
executive Kenneth Griffin, Melvin chief executive Gabriel
 Plotkin and Reddit chief executive Steve Huffman. 
    The virtual hearing, entitled “Game Stopped? Who Wins and
Loses When Short Sellers, Social Media, and Retail Investors
Collide," will take place on Feb. 18 at 1200 ET (1700 GMT),
according to the press release and will be livestreamed here https://financialservices.house.gov/live.
 Waters, a Democrat, is Chair of the House Committee on
Financial Services. 
    Robinhood, Reddit, Melvin and Citadel have been at the
center of the GameStop saga, which saw retail traders promote
GameStop on the Reddit forum WallStreetBets. Robinhood emerged
as a popular venue to trade the stocks but was criticized for
temporarily restricting trading in the hot stock.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2KG1L9
    The GameStop surge resulted in massive losses for Melvin,
after the hedge fund bet the retailer’s stock price would
tumble. Citadel’s hedge funds, along with founder Griffin and
firm partners, put $2 billion into Melvin.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2K60CV
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2K60CV
    Democrats and Republicans are united in their outrage by
Robinhood's decision to suspend trading in the so-called "meme
stocks" on Jan. 28. Tenev said the company had to impose the
restrictions after wild trading in the stocks triggered a $3
billion margin call by Robinhood's clearing house, straining the
company's balance sheet. 
    Massachusetts securities regulators have also issued a
subpoena seeking Gill's testimony.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2KG2CJ urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2K421B

 (Reporting by Michelle Price, additional reporting by Svea
Herbst-Bayliss; writing by Megan Davies
Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)
 ((megan.davies@thomsonreuters.com; +1 646 223 6190;))