SEC Shuts Down Robinhood Investigation Without Pursuing Enforcement Action

The top securities regulator in the United States is dropping its investigations into leading retail trading app Robinhood.

According to a new announcement from Robinhood, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is dropping its investigation into the trading app less than a year after sending the firm a Wells Notice.

The SEC sent Robinhood a Wells Notice, a formal warning of investigation, in May of last year despite Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev’s claims that the firm met with the regulator over 15 times “in good faith”.

“We tried to create what’s called the special purpose broker-dealer for the purpose of transacting crypto assets. We actually came in good faith to meet with the SEC. I think we met with them 16 times and, unfortunately, that was not reciprocated.”

Now, with the charges dropped, Robinhood calls for the SEC to regulate with regulations as opposed to enforcement actions.

Says Dan Gallagher, Robinhood’s chief legal, compliance and corporate affairs officer, on the SEC’s decision to drop charges,

“We applaud the staff’s decision to close this investigation with no action.

Let me be crystal clear—this investigation never should have been opened. Robinhood Crypto always has and will always respect federal securities laws and never allowed transactions in securities. As we explained to the SEC, any case against Robinhood Crypto would have failed. We appreciate the formal closing of this investigation, and we are happy to see a return to the rule of law and commitment to fairness at the SEC.”

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