In an eleventh hour announcement, brokerage platform Robinhood, which is set to begin trading on the Nasdaq this week, has disclosed that it’s under investigation by regulators again.

Why should we care?
In a regulatory filing this week, the company revealed that it received an investigative request from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) seeking documents and information concerning its compliance with FINRA registration requirements. The company said the FINRA investigation is related to the "non-registration status" of co-founders Baiju Bhatt and Vlad Tenev. Robinhood noted that it’s evaluating the matter and that it intends to cooperate with investigators. In addition, FINRA and the Securities and Exchange Commission are also looking into Robinhood employees' stock trades that occurred earlier this year when the company restricted trades of GameStop, AMC Entertainment, and other so-called meme stocks. Regulators are examining whether the employee trades "may have occurred in advance of the public announcement" of trade restrictions. Among other challenges, analysts say regulatory changes to payment-for-order flow – the company’s largest revenue source – could be a risk to its valuation. Robinhood’s upcoming IPO could value the company at an estimated $35B. It’s setting aside 20% to 35% of its IPO shares for its own clients.