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House Committee investigating GameStop saga received maximum donation from Robinhood executives

House Committee investigating GameStop saga received maximum donation from Robinhood executives

Robinhood App

The House Committee on Financial Services investigating GameStop saga has come under increased scrutiny after it was revealed that it had received its maximum funding from Robinhood executives.

According to the latest report,Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev and co-founder Bajnu Bhatt had contributed$2,800 to Maxine Waters and $1,200 to Robert McHenry, who arethe chair andranking member of the House Financial Services Committee.

RobinhoodMarkets Inc's user agreement is likely to protect the brokerage app from a barrage of lawsuits filed by customers after it blocked a frenzied trading rally in companies such as GameStop Corp that was fueled on social media forums.

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The owners of internet platforms where much of the discussion took place are likewise shielded from liability for users' activity under a 25-year-old law known as Section 230.

At least a dozen proposed class-action lawsuits accuseRobinhoodof breaching its contract with customers when it restricted trading on Thursday.

Robinhood's users were at the centre of this week's wild rally in a handful of stocks that had been heavily shorted by hedge funds and championed by individual investors in online chatrooms including Reddit's WallStreetBets.

The lawsuits, brought in federal court, alleging that the Menlo Park, California-based company breached its contractual obligation as a regulated broker to execute orders promptly and effectively.

However,Robinhoodis not legally bound to carry out every trade and the lawsuits will not succeed without evidence the company restricted trading for an improper reason, such as to favour certain investors, according to several legal experts.

The user agreement onRobinhood's website says it "may at any time, in its sole discretion and without prior notice to Me, prohibit or restrict My ability to trade securities."

Robinhood's fee-free and simple-to-use app has made it popular with a new generation of small-time traders and its restrictions on Thursday drew a heavy backlash from high-profile politicians and celebrities.

Retail investors usingRobinhoodand other apps drove the so-called "Reddit rally" that pushed up shares of GameStop Corp and other companies championed on social media platforms including Reddit, resulting in heavy losses for big hedge funds that had shorted the shares.