Broker Robinhood to pay $30 million for AML law violations

The company had previously paid a $45 million fine to the US securities regulator

10.03.2025 - 11:50

2 min

What’s new? Broker Robinhood will pay $29,75 million to settle claims from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). The amount includes a $26 million fine and $3,75 million in customer refunds. It is alleged that Robinhood’s team ignored indications of misconduct on the platform, resulting in anti-money laundering and disclosure violations.

FINRA statement

What else is known? FINRA stated that Robinhood failed to properly supervise its clearing system, despite notable delays in processing transactions due to increased demand between March 2020 and January 2021. The period of delays coincided with when Robinhood restricted trading in GameStop (GME) and AMC Entertainment Holdings (AMC) meme shares.

In addition, Robinhood did not identify, investigate, or report market manipulation attempts suspicious money movements, or instances where customer accounts were taken over by hackers.

The broker also opened “thousands of accounts” without properly conducting customer identification (KYC) procedures. Thus, Robinhood failed to establish and implement effective anti-money laundering programs, the financial regulator added.

Robinhood Financial and Robinhood Securities divisions agreed to pay the funds without admitting or denying the allegations.

On Jan. 13, Robinhood had already reached a $45 million settlement with the US securities regulator over allegations that it violated more than 10 provisions of the securities law. Among other things, the broker was accused of failing to maintain and preserve emails from clients between 2020 and 2021.

Despite the multi-million dollar fines, Robinhood reported record net income of $916 million for the company and revenue of more than $1 billion in Q4 2024.

Cryptocurrency revenue totaled $358 million out of $672 million in total transaction revenue — a 200% year-over-year increase. Cryptocurrency trading volumes grew 450% to $71 billion.

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