Did the Pied Piper of meme stock investments lead his followers to their impending financial demise?
Some investors smell a rat and are calling for the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Gary Gensler to investigate whether activist investor Ryan Cohen may have manipulated markets with his trades in Bed, Bath & Beyond, known by its BBBY ticker symbol.
“Worthy of [an] SEC investigation,“ opined Gary Black, managing partner at The Futures Fund.
The stock had surged over 70% on Tuesday after a filing revealed the Canadian investor had held on to his April call options in the brick-and-mortar retailer that would only begin to pay out should the stock hit $60 a share before January 20. This was seen as a fresh renewal of his confidence in the company’s slumbering value.
On Wednesday investors then learned that Cohen’s RC Ventures told the SEC the very same day he intended to sell his entire stake, equivalent to 1.67 million shares locked up in his new options derivative contracts as well as a further 7.78 million in conventional cash equity shares, notifying regulators the sale could commence immediately.
