Grant & Eisenhofer Files Class Action Lawsuit Against Citadel Securities LLC and Virtu Americas LLC
On June 29, 2026, Grant & Eisenhofer P.A. filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of Aron Reynolds (“Plaintiff”) against Citadel Securities LLC (“Citadel”) and Virtu Americas LLC (“Virtu”) (together, the “Defendants”). The action alleges that Defendants defrauded investors by placing and executing manipulative trades designed to artificially deflate the price of Genius stock and also resulted in increased transaction costs for investors.
The action is brought on behalf of all persons who purchased or otherwise acquired, or sold or otherwise disposed of, securities of Genius between April 12, 2022 and May 30, 2025, inclusive (the “Class Period”). The action, brought in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, is captioned Aron Reynolds v. Citadel Securities LLC and Virtu Americas LLC, No. 1:26-cv-24485 (S.D. Fla.).
Citadel and Virtu are broker-dealers registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission and operate as major market makers, routinely placing and executing securities trades for investors as well as for their own trading accounts.
The complaint alleges violations of Sections 9(a) and 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Specifically, the lawsuit alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants engaged in a manipulative and illegal trading practice known as “spoofing,” which involves submitting and then cancelling buy or sell orders without any genuine intent to execute them. The purpose of these “baiting orders” was to mislead other market participants about the true level of supply and demand for Genius securities, or about the stock’s price volatility, thereby influencing the market price of Genius to benefit Defendants’ own trading positions. The alleged manipulation also increased investors’ transaction costs by inflating the bid-ask spread for Genius stock. Defendants entered thousands of these baiting orders on U.S. stock exchanges to create the false impression that Genius’ stock price reflected genuine supply-and-demand and volatility dynamics, while simultaneously profiting by absorbing and reselling their customers’ order flow at prices favorable to Defendants.
