Under fire for suspending trading on some stocks amid buying frenzy, Robinhood raises $1B+
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Robinhood Market Inc. is under fire after it blocked trading on Gamestop Corp. and other stocks being traded by Reddit users, in an effort to ease a strain on its own finances, but it wasn’t the only retail brokerage to do so.
The online trading app said Thursday that it had to raise more than $1 billion in emergency funding from its investors to maintain a cash balance required for it to operate. It must pay customers owed money from their trades while also adding cash to its clearing facility to protect its trading partners from possible losses.
GameStop’s plunge erases US$11bn as trades curbed
Bloomberg
GameStop Corp on Thursday plummeted, snapping a dizzying six-day rally and wiping out nearly US$11 billion in market value after brokers choked off demand for the stock by curbing trading on the apps used by the firm’s zealous fan base.
On Thursday, the stock plunged 44 percent after Robinhood Markets, Interactive Brokers Group Inc and others took steps to curtail activity in several high-flying stocks, including GameStop and AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc.
E Trade Financial Corp is preventing customers from purchasing shares of both firms, a person familiar with the matter said.
Russian Hacker Jailed in U.S. for $19M Fraud Updated: The hacker targeted more than 80 million JPMorgan Chase customers. Zuma / TASS
A Russian hacker was sentenced to 12 years in a U.S. prison Thursday for consumer data theft worth $19 million from 100 million customers of over a dozen financial service companies, the Justice Department said.
Andrei Tyurin, 37, pleaded guilty in 2019 after his extradition from the country of Georgia the previous year, admitting to computer intrusion, wire fraud, bank fraud and illegal online gambling offenses. The U.S. accused him of making criminal profits from financial sector hacks between 2007 and mid-2015.
“From his home in Moscow, Andrei Tyurin played a major role in orchestrating and facilitating an international hacking campaign,” Acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said in a statement.