June 5, 2021
Hi,
I believe this $65 million penalty proposed is a disgrace to the American public and the \"free\" market you pretend to regulate.
When I was 12 years old, me and my friend entered a large and very well know Canadian retailer with the intention of finding something of value to steal and bring home. We exited the store with a JanSport backpack, worth approximately $30CAD at the time. Shortly after our triumphant exit, a store manager and a security guard tailed after me and my friend and confronted us, forcing us back into the store. The police was called, and it was uncovered that me and my friend, in addition to the backpack, had about $130CAD worth of stolen goods on us.
After a few hours of uncontrollable tears of remorse and shame, the police drove me home. A few weeks later, I received a penalty notice from the store which had caught me stealing. This penalty totalled over $600CAD. For the next 18 months of my existence, I would receive every dollar earned through school work programs and family gifts with extreme shame and anxiety, knowing these dollars were not mine, as I had to pay back this fine for my acts.
Needless to say, after this traumatizing experience, me and my friend completely stopped stealing and understood that it would be way, way cheaper to pay for things when we needed them than cheat and risk getting caught, not to mention the shame and remorse felt after having to sit in front of police officers reading my rights and driving me to my distraught mother.
As I am certain you're aware, Robinhood has received over $331 million in revenue, IN Q1 2020 ALONE, from payment-for-order-flow. I would love to have the revenue numbers for the period targeted by 3-20171, which I am certain you can gain access to. Without this information, I am still confident in stating that $65 million is a tiny fraction of the benefits earned by their unscrupulous, illegal activity of allowing market markers to process retail orders first and at will, earning them UNGODLY amounts of illicit profits.
Robinhood intentionally misguides their customers, by a way of attractive 0 commision trades, into thinking that they have advantage to gain by using their platform. Furthermore, it is, as outlined in 3-20171, intentionally and recklessly disregarding its best execution obligation to enrich themselves and those who pay for order flow at the expense of its customer base. With this being said, how can a puny $65 million penalty discourage criminals from perpetrating criminal activity, which seems to be their entire business model, when they are allowed to continue these practices and earning untold amounts of profits from them?
In a fair and free market, a company acting this blatantly against its best execution mandate should not be allowed to conduct ANY trades. The fact that this company is allowed to continue to operate, let alone face a laughable $65 million penalty, tells everything that needs to be known about the SEC and its motives.
Fortunately for retail traders such as myself, the world is changing, and changing fast. In an ever accelerating timeframe, disguised regulatory agencies such as the SEC are seeing their stranglehold on this crooked market and the American citizens it represents slips. I wish this comment would struck a cord with whomever will read it, but I am not so naive. Thankfully, this growing revolution cannot be stopped anymore, and your corruption will be exposed for the world to see.
Power to the players.