On Friday, a class action lawsuit was filed against Keith Gill, Roaring Kitty, whose massively popular social media activity cost GameStop ( GME ) stock for his personal gain. The suit was voluntarily dismissed by the plaintiffs on Monday.
The case, Radev v. Gill, was effectively on the court docket for one business day — and was adjourned hours after the court issued a subpoena requiring Gill to respond to the complaint within 21 days.
The plaintiffs' lawyers informed the court in a notice of two penalties that the case had been dropped.
The news broke shortly before markets closed in the US, with GME ending the day at $23.33, down 5% for the day and 16% over the past month.
It's another short chapter in Gill's colorful and often chaotic career, which rose to fame in 2021 as a leader in the first “meme-stock” movement. Retail investors, powered by apps like Robinhood to enter the stock market, have rallied behind shares of companies like GameStop, confusing Wall Street.
In the now-dismissed lawsuit, the plaintiffs traced Gill's role in the stock market in 2021, tracked his activities earlier this year, returned to Twitter in May, returned to Reddit in June, and tried to match his social media. Posts – and later disclosed stock and option holdings – for GME's stock volatility.
The lawsuit includes screenshots of several Twitter memes and Reddit posts. The plaintiffs cited reports that financial regulators are watching Gill's activities and that Etrade is considering removing him from its trading platform.
Ultimately, Gill “engaged in a pump and dump scheme” with GameStop stock, the lawsuit alleges, violating federal securities laws and causing “significant losses and damages” to victims of “artificially inflated prices of GameStop securities.”
The fact that the suit was dismissed without prejudice does not preclude the plaintiffs from revising their case against Gill.
Meanwhile, Gill has shifted the focus of his affection from GameStop to online pet food retailer Chewy — buying 9 million shares in the company last month, he said Monday.
Gill and the plaintiffs' law firm did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Decrypt.
Daily Debrief Newspaper
Start every day with top news stories, plus original features, podcasts, videos and more.
