A group of technology and financial industry executives will face a bipartisan firestorm Thursday during the first congressional hearing on the GameStop stock controversy, The Hill reported. The leaders of major companies at the center of last month’s wild stock market volatility will find few allies on the House Financial Services Committee as members in both parties plan to hold their feet to fire. Executives from Robinhood, hedge fund Citadel, Melvin Capital and Reddit will seek to defend the heavily scrutinized ways they dealt with a surge in purchases of shares of GameStop and other struggling companies organized by an online community of traders. The GameStop frenzy raised serious questions about stock market regulation, the rise of retail trading websites and Wall Street transparency. The hearing may also lay the groundwork for further congressional investigations or attempts to impose tougher rules on hedge funds and trading platforms. But financial policy experts say those concerns are likely to take a backseat to big tech backlash, mistrust of Wall Street and other politically potent grievances when lawmakers get their crack at the executives.
