The Public BrokerCheck File
FINRA maintains a public BrokerCheck database where investors can look up regulatory actions against broker-dealers. Citadel Securities LLC (CRD# 116797) has multiple disclosed regulatory events in its BrokerCheck file. These include censures, fines, and findings related to trading conduct, reporting obligations, and supervisory systems. The full record is available at brokercheck.finra.org.
2020 Regulatory Activity
In 2020, FINRA and related regulators took multiple actions against Citadel Securities. The firm was censured multiple times and fined for conduct that, according to regulatory findings, included failures to properly report short sale indicators, trading during circuit-breaker halts, and failure to address failure-to-deliver positions. FINRA also imposed a fine of $700,000 in July 2020 related to the handling of over-the-counter orders, which the regulator found were routed in ways that potentially disadvantaged clients.
Treasury Reporting Fine
FINRA separately fined Citadel Securities $275,000 in 2021, following a censure, for improperly reporting approximately 500,000 Treasury transactions between 2017 and 2019, according to public regulatory records.
What the Record Means for Investors
Regulatory actions against market makers do not automatically mean that individual investors lost money, and not all violations have the same severity. However, a pattern of regulatory findings across multiple categories — reporting accuracy, short-sale compliance, best execution, and order handling — raises questions, in The Ethics Reporter's view, about the adequacy of the firm's compliance infrastructure. Investors who believe they may have been harmed by market-maker conduct can file complaints with FINRA or the SEC.