“As far as MassMutual is concerned, they were obviously totally at fault for not supervising him,” William Galvin, secretary of the commonwealth, said in an interview. “I mean, it was beyond a small matter of negligence. It was complete and thorough.”

‘As far as MassMutual is concerned, they were obviously totally at fault for not supervising him. I mean, it was beyond a small matter of negligence. It was complete and thorough.’

William Galvin, secretary of the commonwealth

Under his online alias, Gill would provide regular updates on how his GameStop investment was faring, posting his trades on Reddit under the recurring rubric of “GME YOLO Update.”

At one point, during the pinnacle of the GameStop frenzy, Gill posted images on Reddit that showed his original $US53,000 bet on GameStop had ballooned in value to $US48 million, a trading coup that turned him into an online folk hero to legions of would-be traders.

The settlement also included other details of Gill’s trading activities that regulators said were in violation of Massachusetts rules. For example, Gill carried out nearly 1700 trades in the accounts of three other people.

What was being traded and the identities of the people were not disclosed. But such trading by a broker outside the brokerage firm for which the broker works must be approved in writing ahead of time, under Massachusetts regulations, the settlement said.

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An attorney for Gill that said his job was to develop educational curriculum for investors, and that he was not employed as a broker.

“The fact that he held a license to do something he was not doing is entirely irrelevant,” said William Taylor, who is with the firm Zuckerman Spaeder.

Gill had informed the company of his access to the accounts of one of those individuals, and requested permission to manage them, which the company denied, Galvin’s office said. Gill was also managing outside investment accounts for two other people, a fact that MassMutual failed to identify, the settlement said.

Taylor said Gill helped manage the accounts of three family members.

“Less than 5 per cent of the trades in those accounts were in GME,” Taylor said, referencing GameStop’s stock symbol.

An inquiry being conducted by Galvin’s office into Gill is still pending.

The New York Times