Hedge fund boss Ken Griffin reportedly launches fresh attack at ‘brazen’ SEC cash grab

Hedge fund titan Ken Griffin is leading the charge to stop a move by US regula🎀tors that would force traders to help bankroll a new market surveillance system, according to a report.

Griffin’s Citadel Securities wants to block new rules that demand investors stump up funds for the so-called Consolidated Audit Trail system that has already cost an estimated $1 billion,

Known as CAT, the system gives regulators a real-time record of all investor and transaction activity across all US ܫmarkets, including the New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ.

It has also sparked privacy concerns with oneꩵ-time Donald Trump attorney generaꦬl Bill Barr calling it an

Regulators have access to the identit🅠ies of the traders involv🦂ed.

They say they can use that data☂ to crack down on illegal practices such as stock manipulation, or insider trading.

C🥂itadel, whose founder Griffin is worth an estimated $43 billion according to Forbes, last week branded the move in a letter to regulators as “brazen”, the FT repo꧋rted.

The letter said the rules, approved last September, amounted to “an effort to extract hundreds of millions of dollars from broker-dealers such🌠 as Citadel Securities.”

Exchanges ൲currently soak up the costs of the system, known as CAT, bꦆut the Securities and Exchange Commission, Wall Street’s top cop, will allow them to claw back two-thirds of those funds from traders.

The first bills are set to go out in October and will be based on this month’s trading volumes.

The Miami-based investment giant wants the SEC to suspend those plans until judges have issued a ♌definitive verdict on its legality.

Griffin al𓃲so teamed up with the American Securities Association in October to launch the case that calls CAT a “sham” and ꦫclaims that it is unconstitutional.

It said the Wash♛ington-based body had failed to address “widespread investor concerns about transparency, governance, costs and data privacy,” according to a court filing.

Exchange officials quoted by the Financial Times dismissed Griffin’s concerns.

“We’re just recovering our costs. There’s no ♏prꦆofit here,” said one source directly involved in the project. “They’ve made every maneuver possible to avoid paying for the CAT.”

CAT gives regulators a real-time record of all investor and transaction acti♎vity across all US markets, including the New York Stock Exchange and the ꦑNASDAQ.

It also꧂ gives them access to the identities of tr🌠aders involved.

They say they can use that data to crack down on illegal practices such as stock manipulation, oꦓr insider tradi🐎ng.

The idea for CAT was first floated under🐈 the Obama Administration in 2012, but it only became fully operational in 2022.

It was seen as a response to a 2010 “flash crash” that saw nearly $1 trillion in market value temporarily erased from major US exchanges.