Robinhood, Citadel Spar With Lawmakers Over Retail Trading
- Democrats grill executives over wild surge for GameStop
- Maxine Waters pledges to dig into potential conflicts
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House Democrats sparred with the leaders of Robinhood Markets and Citadel Thursday, with lawmakers pressing the firms on whether they’re profiting at the expense of retail investors and complaining that they got few satisfying answers.
At a closely watched Financial Services Committee hearing sparked by the frenzied trading in GameStop stock, Robinhood’s Vlad Tenev and Citadel’s Ken Griffin took fire on issues ranging from trading halts provoked by capital shortfalls to whether “free trades” are really free. While both were adamant that their businesses have helped small-time investors gain access to markets that have long been the domain of Wall Street, lawmakers were frequently dubious of the chief executives’ often complex arguments.