Registered Lobbying Expenditures
Federal lobbying disclosure records show that Citadel LLC and Citadel Securities have spent millions annually on registered lobbying. Targets include the SEC's Division of Trading and Markets, members of the House Financial Services Committee, members of the Senate Banking Committee, and the Treasury's Office of Financial Research. Specific issues lobbied include PFOF rules, market structure reforms, tick size regulations, and access fee proposals.
The Personnel: Former Regulators as Lobbyists
Citadel's lobbying team has included former SEC officials, former FINRA executives, and former Congressional staff members from relevant committees. This roster provides Citadel with direct relationship access to current regulators and legislators — relationships built over years of government service that are now deployed in Citadel's commercial interest.
The Griffin Personal Portfolio
Separate from the firm's registered lobbying, Kenneth Griffin's personal political donations operate as an extension of Citadel's influence strategy. Griffin's donations have tracked closely with regulatory threats: they increased significantly in 2022 during the period when SEC market structure reform proposals were being advanced.
The Return: Regulatory Stasis
PFOF has existed in its current form for more than three decades. In that time, every significant attempt to reform or ban the practice has either failed or been substantially weakened. Citadel Securities' lobbying and political spending are the most plausible explanation for this regulatory stasis — given that international evidence, academic research, and multiple SEC studies have consistently identified PFOF's harms.