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Robinhood Reveals Investigation Ahead of IPO Debut Robinhood announced Tuesday that regulators are looking into its CEO, Vlad Tenev, for not being licensed by the FInancial Industry Regulatory Authority.

By Emily Rella

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

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Robinhood announced Tuesday that regulators are looking into its CEO, Vlad Tenev, for not being licensed by the FInancial Industry Regulatory Authority, Wall Street's self-regulator.

There are also inquiries from FINRA and the Securities and Exchange Commission about employee trades involving $GME, $AMC and other "meme stocks." The company noted that regulators want to know whether these employee trades "may have occurred in advance of the public announcement" on trading restrictions.

The investigation comes just ahead of Robinhood's highly anticipated initial public offering. Some forecasters have suggested the public offering could value Robinhood, a powerful online brokerage, at $35 billion.

Related: Robinhood Targets $ 35 Billion IPO

In an SEC filing, Robinhood said it received an investigative request for documents and information relating to its compliance with FINRA requirements for Tenev and co-founder Baiju Bhatt.

"Robinhood is evaluating this matter and intends to cooperate with the investigation," said the company in its late Tuesday filing.

As has been previously reported, the company is expected to price its IPO today and start trading on the Nasdaq tomorrow morning.

Related: Robinhood Fined a Record $70 Million Over "Serious" Violations

Emily Rella

Senior News Writer

Emily Rella is a Senior News Writer at Entrepreneur.com. Previously, she was an editor at Verizon Media. Her coverage spans features, business, lifestyle, tech, entertainment, and lifestyle. She is a 2015 graduate of Boston College and a Ridgefield, CT native. Find her on Twitter at @EmilyKRella.

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