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January 29, 2021

Lawmakers Demand Probe into Trading App Robinhood After it Blocked Stock Sales That Hurt Hedge Funds
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Lawmakers are demanding a Congressional investigation into the trading
app Robinhood, after it stopped allowing users to purchase stock in the
video game retailer Game Stop and other companies. Game Stop's share
prices have swung dramatically in recent weeks - at one point surging by
over 1800 percent - after amateur investors on Reddit boosted its price,
costing billions of dollars in losses to major hedge funds that were
betting on its share price to fall.

A class action suit brought Thursday accuses Robinhood of manipulating
the open-market to benefit hedge funds at the expense of amateur
traders. New York Democratic Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
tweeted in response, "Gotta admit it's really something to see Wall
Streeters with a long history of treating our economy as a casino
complain about a message board of posters also treating the market as a
casino." She added, "Anyways, Tax the Rich." 


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