Wilmington Gamestop Trader Faces Probes From Regulator, Congress

WILMINGTON, MA — Last week, Keith Gill was riding high, at one point reporting over $40 million in gains on his Gamestop trade that captured the world's attention.

On Wednesday, Gill's account update on Reddit showed a $22 million balance, down more than half from the Jan. 27 high of nearly $48 million — but still up more than 40,000 percent on his initial $53,000 investment.

Now the Wilmington resident, 34, faces potential investigations from two directions: congress and the state government.

As first reported by the New York Times, Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin is investigating whether MassMutual, Gill's former employer, should have known about Gill's outside trading activities, a spokesperson confirmed.

Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, a California Democrat, told the financial news network Cheddar that she wants Gill to testify before congress, alongside representatives of hedge funds and the retail trading app Robinhood.

"I want him here," Waters said about a hearing scheduled for Feb. 18.

The Secretary of the Commonwealth investigation is centered on whether MassMutual should have known about Gill's boosting of the stock outside of work.

Spokeswoman Debra O'Malley confirmed that the Securities Division asked the insurer Friday about Gill's status at the company. They were told that Gill gave his notice on Jan. 21 and his last day was Jan. 28 — the day after his reported account balance peaked.

"They also informed us that they had previously denied Mr. Gill’s request to do outside work, when he asked for permission to manage the portfolio of a family friend," O'Malley said. "Our Securities Division is looking into whether or not MassMutual should have been aware of Mr. Gill’s activities."

The Securities Division has not had any contact with Gill himself, O'Malley added.

According to the New York Times, the key issue is whether Gill, as a registered security broker, had an obligation to inform MassMutual of what he was doing.

Gill has said very little to the media, except for an interview with the Wall Street Journal published Friday. The Journal said that he "until recently worked in marketing for" MassMutual. He did not respond to requests for interviews from Patch.

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or [email protected].