‘Sorry’: Brokerage chief at heart of GameStop saga apologises

In US Congressional hearing, brokerage app Robinhood’s CEO says he recognises customers were upset about temporary halt to trading in GameStop shares.

The head of trading app Robinhood and Wall Street hedge fund managers fielded a barrage of questions in the United States Congress about their role in the GameStop trading frenzy, at times being cut off by irate policymakers who found their answers wanting. Financial heavyweights including billionaire Republican mega-donor and Citadel CEO Ken Griffin defended their businesses at the virtual hearing, which lasted more than five hours. The officials probed how users of social media site Reddit, trading on retail platforms, squeezed hedge funds that had bet against shares of the loss-making video game retailer and other companies. “Robinhood owns what happened and we need to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” said Robinhood CEO Vlad  Tenev, who appeared to answer the most questions.