Comment Text:
This vertical integration is the worst idea for economic stability. We cannot allow financial racketeers to become more powerful and have their activities become even less transparent. There is a powerful financial mafia operating under our noses and our authorities must not bend to their will. They employ many puppets in high places such as judge Colm Connolly who oversees the corrupt process of bankrupting companies (like Etoys) that compete with Amazon, and SEC commissioner Hester Peirce who always votes in favor of criminal interests. Bad faith actors such as these will do anything they can to keep their masters crimes from the public eye. We need more transparency, lot less.
Citadel was fined recently for spoofing trades in Korea. They are very likely doing the same thing here but our authorities have been looking the other way. Allowing historically criminal entities like Citadel to become vertically integrated is a huge mistake, it is obvious that financial institutions turn to crime whenever they have the opportunity, so the opportunity for crime must be stifled and not widened. For example, Goldman Sachs is a multiple felon, would you trust them to do the right thing with free reign and less transparency? Of course not.
This proposal to allow financial vertical integration is beneficial to bad actors and detrimental to free markets and retail investors.
