Ken Griffin, the billionaire CEO of mega-hedge fund Citadel has become a major donor to the Republican Party, donating $100 million towards the right-wing attempt to win the 2022 midterm elections.
Griffin’s big bucks have led to him becoming the third biggest donor to political candidates in the 2022 election cycle. If Griffin has his way, Republicans would receive majorities in the House and Senate and be empowered to enact national abortion bans and endless investigations designed to stop President Joe Biden’s popular agenda.
Speaking to CNBC, a spokesperson for the Democratic Governors Association compared Griffin’s new influence to the infamous Koch Brothers, who spent millions for years electing Republicans with the goals of loosening regulations on polluters.
A Republican majority could benefit Griffin, easing federal oversight of the financial services industry and helping to create the same sort of conditions that led to the 2007-8 recession and market crash, which required federal bailouts.
Citadel has also gotten in trouble with the federal government.
In 2017, Citadel had to pay out $22 million after the Securities and Exchange Commission found that they had been misleading clients about the prices for stock exchanges.
“The SEC’s order finds that Citadel Execution Services suggested to its broker-dealer clients that upon receiving retail orders they forwarded from their own customers, it either took the other side of the trade and provided the best price that it observed on various market data feeds or sought to obtain that price in the marketplace,” the government agency revealed.
Griffin has also recently donated to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a likely GOP presidential candidate in the 2024 presidential election.
One of the first political bloggers in the world, Oliver Willis has operated OliverWillis.com since 2000. Contributor at Media Matters for America and The American Independent. Follow on Twitter at @owillis. Full bio.