Janet Yellen
Did newly-confirmed Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen violate her ethics agreement with the US Treasury Department?
New York Times reporter Kenneth Vogel said unless Janet Yellen receives a written waiver, she will be barred by her ethics agreement from participating in any matter involving CITADEL until October, 2021 (or one year after her last paid speech to Citadel).
Unless JANET YELLEN receives a written waiver, she will be barred by her ethics agreement from participating in any matter involving CITADEL, which makes millions in fees from ROBINHOOD, until Oct. 2021 (or 1 year after her last paid speech to Citadel). https://t.co/ZgnOPlDuek
— Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) January 29, 2021
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Yellen will be briefing Biden and Harris on the Citadel-GameStop-Robinhood situation tomorrow morning (not that Biden will have a clue what’s going on anyway).
US President Biden And Vice President Harris To Receive Briefing From Yellen Friday 11:00 ET
— First Squawk (@FirstSquawk) January 29, 2021
Here’s the backstory:
Janet Yellen was recently paid more than $800,000 in *speaking fees* by Citadel.
Fox News reported: Yellen’s financial disclosure shows her making $337,500 for multiple days in Oct. of 2020 from Citadel. She similarly banked $292,500 in October of 2019 and $180,000 in December of that year.
Citadel and Point72 infused nearly $3 billion into Melvin Capital, a hedge fund that took a beating after betting against GameStop as Reddit traders caused GME to soar.
On Thursday, Robinhood, an online brokerage firm, blocked retail investors trading GameStop and other stocks – a clear manipulation – in order to stop the bleeding and protect Citadel, a multinational hedge fund with a vested interest in Robinhood.
The word on the street is that Citadel actually reloaded their shorts before they told Robinhood to stop trading GME (GameStop).
Just got a tip that Citadel reloaded their shorts before they told Robinhood to stop trading $GME.
If this is true, Ken Griffin and the Robinhood founders should be in jail.
This is class warfare.
— Justin Kan (@justinkan) January 28, 2021
A person who purports to be a Robinhood employee (unconfirmed) blew the whistle on a conversation that went down with the brokerage firm’s C-Suite, Sequoia Capital (a venture capital firm that focuses on tech) AND THE WHITE HOUSE.
“Vladimir, yes founder Vladimir, and the C-Suite, received calls from Sequoia Capital and the White House that pressured into closing trading on GME etc. I guarantee you the same took place at E-trade and the others who closed trading,” the anonymous Robinhood employee posted to Reddit.
In a public statement released, Sequoia Capital says it “did not pressure Robinhood to halt the trading of any stocks. This rumor is completely false.”
Was Janet Yellen involved in the halting of trading in order to protect Citadel, a hedge fund that previously paid her nearly $1 million in speaking fees?
Despite the clear conflict of interest, the White House did not commit to a recusal by Yellen when asked about it by a Reuters reporter.
However, according to the ethics agreement, Janet Yellen is barred in any matter involving Citadel — unless she gets a written waiver.
Does White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki know this??
Probably not.
All Psaki cares about is the fact that Janet Yellen is the first female Treasury Secretary, hear her roar.
