Ken Griffin: the Abusive Shorter of Wall Street
Here are my thoughts on Ken Griffin and what I find to be very wrong with his actions as a market maker and hedge fund. I find many parallels between Ken Griffin and Bernie Madoff. Watch the new Netflix Documentary: Madoff: The Monster of Wall Street if you get the chance.
“Greatest Trade Ever” The title of the Bloomberg News article. Ken Griffin posts 16 billion in profit after fees in 2022. This is the top earnings for a hedge fund ever. This is in a year where the market struggled with the S&P 500 was down nearly 20 percent. How was Citadel so profitable when other funds had a very rough year? The reason is Citadel the hedge fund was heavily short. Citadel’s hedge fund Statement of Financial Condition has stated them as having 65 billion worth of securities sold, not purchased at fair value. That is a very heavy weight on the market. I find it is very troubling they are also owned by the same man as a top market maker. Market makers have a lot of influence on the trading. Market Makers are allowed to create liquidity (more shares) which is very harmful to companies (dilution). This is known as the Madoff market maker exemption. These shares are not issued by the company but made by the market maker. I learned this from Dr. Suzanne Trimbath who used to work at the DTCC. The DTCC is the organization that is supposed to keep track of the shares. Another troubling thing is that David Inggs, Director of the DTCC also works for Citadel. Conflict of interest? The fox is in the hen house? Citadel is in the top two of market makers. They also have their own Dark Pools Citadel Connect. Citadel is the Octopus you see in history books. There many arms control all aspects of the Stock Market. The many arms are all controlled by one man (the head) Kenneth Cordele Griffin. They have a hedge fund that is heavily short. They also have the market maker that provides and creates shares. Then they have dark pools to hold and distribute the shares to brokerages (PFOF). All roads lead to the Citadel. If you are in the stock market it is hard to not interact with Citadel. If you are a company in Citadel’s crosshairs the likelihood of bankruptcy/ lowered stock price is very high. Citadel was the designated market maker that oversaw the bankruptcies of Toys R US, Sears, Blockbuster and many others. Today, GameStop is in the Citadel’s destructive gaze (designated market maker). In 2020 it was disclosed that GameStop was 140 percent short. That is abusive and puts great downward pressure on the company. More short shares exist than real issued shares. With 65 billion short, this shows Citadel is short in many things, not just GameStop. His 16 billion of profits is off the suffering of our capital markets. His abusive shorting does not benefit anyone but his companies! It is a great weight on our capital markets!
I’m imploring for an official investigation of Ken Griffin and his companies. I find that his heavy shorting of the capital markets to be very wrong. No one should profit from an abusive market maker or front running trades. The market maker would be incentivized to push the market down. Ken Griffin should not be allowed to play God in the stock market. Having a hedge fund in tandem with a market maker that makes money off of the suffering of others. We are here to create wealth for the world’s capital markets. We want a robust, healthy stock market. Ken’s heavy shorting of the capital markets is a great downward pressure on people’s retirements and investments. I do not think he should be able to operate a heavily short hedge fund and a market maker at the same time. I find the conflict of interest to be too great. Market makers are supposed to be neutral and help the markets function smoothly. Ken is not a fair market maker because of his conflicts of interest.
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