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A\u00a0lawsuit<\/a>\u00a0accusing popular stocks influencer Keith Gill, better known as \u201cRoaring Kitty,\u201d of engaging in a \u201cpump and dump\u201d scheme involving GameStop<\/a> Corp. shares was dropped within days of its filing.<\/p>\n In a proposed class action filed Friday in Brooklyn, New York, federal court, GameStop shareholder Martin Radev sued Gill for securities fraud, claiming he was seeking to manipulate the stock for his own gain. In a court\u00a0filing<\/a>\u00a0late Monday afternoon, Radev said he was voluntarily dismissing the lawsuit.<\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear why Radev dropped the suit, and his lawyers didn\u2019t immediately respond to requests for comment. The dismissal was without prejudice, meaning he is free to file the suit again.<\/p>\n Gill also didn\u2019t respond to an email seeking comment.<\/p>\n One of the public faces of the 2021 meme-stock craze, Gill amassed more than a million followers across his \u201cRoaring Kitty\u201d YouTube<\/a> channel and \u201cDeepF***ingValue\u201d Reddit page. He reemerged in May and again began posting about Gamestop on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The suit alleged that Gill acquired 120,000 call options in GameStop before he began posting about the company in May. The stock, which had been trading around $17 just before Gill began to post, soared to $48.75 on May 14.\u00a0<\/p>\n On June 2, he revealed that he owned 5 million shares of GameStop and 120,000 call options that were set to expire on June 21. By June 13, Gill\u2019s holdings had risen to more than 9 million shares of GameStop with no outstanding call options.\u00a0<\/p>\n Gill \u201cquietly sold and\/or exercised (i.e., dumped) all 120,000 of his GameStop call options for a large profit, seemingly to increase his own stake in GameStop stock by over 4 million shares,\u201d Radev said in the suit.<\/p>\n GameStop shares have since fallen, though they\u2019re still higher than they were before Gill\u2019s posts. They closed at around $23 on Monday afternoon.<\/p>\n GameStop\u2019s recent rise was less pronounced than during the meme-stock frenzy. The company surged more than 1,700% during one stretch in January 2021, and the stock\u2019s stratospheric rise appeared to pit scrappy individual investors against sophisticated hedge funds that were heavily shorting the troubled mall retailer.<\/p>\n On Monday, Chewy<\/a> Inc. shares\u00a0spiked<\/a>\u00a0as much as 10% after Gill disclosed a 6.6% passive stake in the online pet food and product retailer.<\/p>\n The filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission came days after the investor posted a photo with a puppy without any comment on X. The post briefly sent the pet food retailer to a one-year high on Thursday.\u00a0<\/p>\n The case is Radev v. Gill, 24-cv-04608, US District Court, Eastern District of New York.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSubscribe to the Fortune Next to Lead newsletter to get weekly strategies on how to make it to the corner office. Sign up for free<\/a>.<\/div>\n