Two register as lobbyists ahead of congressional hearings
Trading app already had four lobbying firms on retainer February 9, 2021 2:34 PM By Megan R. Wilson
Robinhood Markets Inc. registered its first in-house lobbyists as the trading company faces congressional criticism related to its actions during a Reddit-fueled stock buying spree.
Lucas Moskowitz, deputy general counsel of regulatory, litigation, and government affairs, and Beth Zorc, the associate general counsel for federal affairs, began working at Robinhood last year and, as of this month, are now registered to lobby, according to disclosures filed Monday.
Both have experience on the House Financial Services and Senate Banking panels, which are set to hold hearings about the frenzy surrounding a rally on certain stocks, including GameStop Corp. and AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc., in addition to the companyâs relationship with other financial entities such as hedge funds and market makers.
At the hearings, Robinhood will need to lay out its case before skeptical lawmakers. The company, which was founded in 2013, has argued that its decision to curtail trading of GameStop stock was done in the best interest of its customers at a time when it’s struggling to keep up with rapid growth.
ADVERTISEMENT
“Robinhood appears to have a credible, objectively verifiable explanation for why it did what it did,” said David Slovick, a partner at Barnes & Thornburg and who was senior enforcement attorney at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from 2000 to 2004.
Tenev’s performance at the hearing, and Robinhood’s fight to quell the backlash, will pose the biggest challenge yet for its recently expanded D.C. team.
POLITICO
Wall Street faces Washington crackdown after GameStop rollercoaster
The frenzy surrounding the trading of GameStop stock is triggering Washington’s most intense scrutiny of Wall Street in more than a decade.
Reddit s users have said they wanted to punish hedge funds that were betting on further declines in GameStop and other struggling companies. As the stock rose, the short sellers suffered. | Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Link Copied
The frenzy surrounding the trading of GameStop stock is triggering Washington’s most intense scrutiny of Wall Street in more than a decade, teeing up hearings and investigations that threaten brokers and hedge funds at the center of the turmoil.
Daniel Gallagher Jr. Daniel Gallagher is the chief legal officer at Robinhood. Mike Segar/Reuters A former SEC commissioner under Barack Obama, Gallagher was tapped by Robinhood as its chief legal officer last May. During his tenure as commissioner, from 2011 to 2015, he championed corporate governance reform and, in the language of his SEC bio, advocated against the encroachment of bank-regulatory measures into the capital market. Gallagher held several other positions on the SEC before being appointed commissioner, including deputy director and coacting director of the division of trading and markets.
Gallagher also has significant regulatory experience in the private sector. In 2016, he joined Patomak Global Partners, a financial-services consultancy that provides industry and regulatory expertise, as its president, before becoming the top lawyer at the pharmaceutical company Mylan no