Robinhood Registers in-House Lobbyists Amid Scrutiny over Recent Trading Restrictions
Written by
Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy
Edited by
Daria Uhlig
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Trading app platform Robinhood, which has been at the center of the market volatility saga of the past few weeks, registered its in-house team last week to start lobbying.
See: Americans’ Savings Drop to Lowest Point in YearsFind: Robinhood Faces Slew of Lawsuits over Trading Freeze
Some bills Robinhood plans to lobby, such as a trading tax, could negatively impact its revenue model of profiting off of customer trades, according to CNBC.
One of the bills Robinhood plans to focus on is the Wall Street Tax Act of 2019, introduced two years ago with the goal of imposing a 0.1% excise tax on certain financial transactions, including the purchase of stocks, bonds and derivatives, according to CNBC.
In 2020, Robinhood spent $275,000 on lobbying efforts and hired four companies, including Blue Ridge Law & Policy, the Daly Consulting Group, Thorn Run Partners and the Williams Group, according to data from OpenSecrets.gov.
See: Elon Musk Absolutely Grills Robinhood CEO in ‘Electric’ InterviewFind: Facebook Tops Lobbying Spending in 2020
The lobbyists that Robinhood added include Beth Zorc, a former Housing and Urban Development attorney and senior staffer on the Senate Banking and House Financial Services committees, and Lucas Moskowitz, who served as chief of staff to former SEC Chair Jay Clayton. Zorc and Moskowitz will lobby on various bills relating to financial transaction taxes, according to Politico.
The company is facing increasing scrutiny from regulators and a slew of lawsuits following the trading frenzy tied to GameStop and AMC.
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