Suspected market manipulation? Retail investor "带头大哥" under investigation by US regulatory agencies

Three years ago, the retail investor leader of the meme stock movement, "Roaring Kitty" Keith Gill, has made a comeback with undiminished momentum. Recently, he has been flaunting on social media his multi-million dollar GameStop (GME) delivery orders, urging retail investors to buy in. A new wave of meme stock speculation seems to be brewing.

However, the bad news is that his trading activities have caught the attention of the securities regulator in Massachusetts, USA.

A spokesperson for the Massachusetts Secretary of State Bill Galvin's office told the media that the securities department is investigating Gill's actions, and the investigation is currently ongoing.

On Sunday, Gill posted a trading screenshot on Reddit, showing that he holds 5 million shares of GME stock worth $1.157 billion, as well as 120,000 call options expiring on June 21st with a strike price of $20, totaling $65.7 million.

On Monday, GME's stock price rose by 20%. Intraday, the account screenshot posted by Gill showed that he had over $29.2 million in cash. As of Monday's opening, Gill's GME position was valued at over $386 million. On Monday night, he shared another screenshot on Reddit showing that he had not sold a single share.

It has been reported that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been reviewing the call options related to GME that Gill posted on social media. It is currently unclear whether the SEC is specifically targeting Gill for review.

In addition to regulatory agencies, there were previous reports that E-Trade, a brokerage under Morgan Stanley, is considering prohibiting Gill from using their platform for trading.

Gill himself has not responded to these investigations.

Following multiple negative catalysts, GME's U.S. stock fell by over 5% overnight and rose by about 2% in after-hours trading