THE ETHICS REPORTER

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Utah Investor Alert

Citadel Securities and Utah Investors: What You Need to Know

Payment for order flow — the practice by which Citadel Securities pays discount brokers for exclusive access to retail order flow — affects an estimated 590,000 Utah retail investors. Here is what Utah residents need to know.

How PFOF Affects Utah Investors

Utah's tech sector ('Silicon Slopes') has created a growing population of retail investors. Utah's strong culture of financial planning and investment makes retail investors particularly vulnerable to undisclosed PFOF harms.

The Scale in Utah

Utah has an estimated 590,000 Utah retail investors. Each of these investors who uses a PFOF-dependent discount broker — Robinhood, TD Ameritrade, E*Trade, Charles Schwab, or Webull — is routing their orders to Citadel Securities without their knowledge or consent. Citadel captures a spread on each of these trades, generating revenue that flows back to Kenneth Griffin while providing retail investors with marginally inferior execution prices compared to what competitive exchange routing would provide.

Utah's financial hub in Salt Lake City has sophisticated financial professionals who understand these dynamics. But most Utah retail investors — those in Provo, Ogden and throughout the state — are unaware that their "free" trades are funded by a practice that systematically extracts value from them.

Kenneth Griffin's Political Investment in Utah

Kenneth Griffin has given more than $1.5 million in Utah-linked political contributions. His key recipients include Senator Mitt Romney, who served on the Senate Banking Committee, and national Republican organizations. This political investment creates a documented relationship between the CEO of America's dominant retail market maker and the political figures responsible for overseeing financial regulation in Utah.

  • Mitt Romney (R-UT Senate) — $50,000 (2018, U.S. Senate)
  • Republican National Committee — $1,500,000 (2022, Federal Committee)

What Utah Regulators Could Do

Utah Attorney General Derek Brown and the Utah Division of Securities have authority under the Utah Uniform Securities Act (Utah Code Ann. §61-1-1 et seq.) to investigate broker-dealer practices.

What Utah Investors Can Do Now

Utah retail investors who believe they have been harmed by PFOF-driven execution quality degradation can take several steps:

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