GameStop hearing live: Robinhood CEO and others in trading saga testify before Congress

Melvin Capital CEO Gabriel Plotkin claims the company was not looking for a bailout

Gabriel Plotkin, CEO of one of the hedge funds hit by the coordinated Reddit trades, claims Melvin did not coordinate or ask for Robinhood’s ban on trading.

The GameStop frenzy targeted hedge funds like Melvin with huge short positions in GameStop, which had bet the share price would fall and stood to cash in when it did so. After the Reddit-fueled surge, the fund lost 53% in January. It reportedly received a $2bn+ capital infusion from Citadel as its losses grew.

“To be sure, Melvin was managing through a difficult time, but we always had margin excess and we were not seeking a cash infusion,” Plotkin said.

He claims he was the subject of anti-Semitic and threatening posts on Reddit surrounding the markets incident.

“I want to make clear at the outset that Melvin Capital played absolutely no role in those trading platforms’ decisions,” said Plotkin. “In fact, Melvin closed out all of its positions in GameStop days before platforms put those limitations in place.”

Citadel owner Ken Griffin: we had ‘no role’ in Robinhood’s decision to restrict certain stocks

Ken Griffin is the billionaire owner of hedge fund Citadel and high-speed trading firm Citadel Securities, which works with Robinhood.

He said in testimony on Thursday that the firm provided securities to meet investors’ needs during the unprecedented surge of trading of GameStop stocks, but had “no role” in the decision made by Robinhood to restrict trading of those stocks.

The incident “reflects the competence of our firm’s ability to deliver in all market conditions”, he said.

Opening statements: Robinhood, Citadel, and Melvin Capital CEOs

We are off running with some opening statements from the biggest players in the Reddit-fueled stock market meltdown.

First, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev spoke about how he came to found Robinhood, talking of how his childhood in Bulgaria, where the financial system was “on the verge of collapse”. Tenev said he wanted to give more people access to financial systems.

“We created Robin Hood to economically empower all Americans by opening mutual markets to them,” he said.

He referenced just how much money has been created by Robinhood investments, saying “the total value of our customers’ assets on Robinhood exceeds the net amount of money they have deposited with us over $35bn.”

Next, Citadel CEO Kenneth Griffin and Melvin Capital CEO Gabriel Plotkin will speak.

Executives from the investing site Robinhood, the social media site Reddit, and other tech companies are testifying on Thursday in the first public hearing in an investigation into a recent public trading meltdown orchestrated on social media.

The House financial services committee will hear testimony from parties involved in the recent trading in GameStop, AMC cinemas and other companies whose share values soared to astronomical levels as small investors piled into the stocks.

We’ll follow the hearing live throughout the day – stay tuned.