Robinhood to Pay $45 Million to Settle SEC Charges

Online trading firm Robinhood Markets has agreed to pay $45 million to settle U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charges over record keeping, trade reporting and other rule violations, the regulator said on Monday.

Regulators found Robinhood Securities LLC and Robinhood Financial LLC violated numerous requirements such as accurately reporting trading activity; filing timely reports of suspicious activity; maintaining records and complying with short sale rules, said SEC acting director Sanjay Wadhwa in a statement.

Robinhood also became among the latest broker-dealers to admit to breaking rules over retaining work-related communications with employees’ use of messaging apps and other “off-channel” communication platforms.

The firm admitted to those failures as well as deficient trading data, known as blue sheets. Robinhood also failed to adequately address cybersecurity risks, regulators found.

Robinhood General Counsel Lucas Moskowitz said the firm is pleased to have resolved the matters.

“We are well-positioned to continue leading the industry in developing the innovative products and services our customers want and need,” he said in a statement. “We look forward to working with the SEC under a new administration.”

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel and Chris Prentice; Editing by Chris Reese and David Gregorio)