Trading Stocks at The Four Seasons in Palm Beach During Coronavirus

The New York Stock Exchange trading floor is shut down, and Wall Street’s financial services industry has largely moved online.

Citadel Securities however came up with another idea.  Rather than work from home, billionaire Kenneth Griffin has reportedly moved his Citadel Securities team to the Four Seasons Resort in Palm Beach, drawing criticism from some local Florida residents, The NY Times reported.

The Times found out: The firm booked the hotel for New York and Chicago traders just before Palm Beach County put a hold on March 26 on new hotel reservations, and it began operations there on March 30. A few days later, Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a stay-at-home order across Florida.

They evidently have a very interesting arrangement, they are the only residents at the Four Seasons currently. This makes them not in violation of the states social distancing laws.

Palm Beach County ordered local hotels to stop accepting new reservations as of March 26, but Citadel reportedly booked the entire Four Seasons ahead of the shutdown.

The town is treating the property as a private residence where people inside can work — or swim in the pool — as they would in any home,  Michael Ogrodnick, a Palm Beach spokesman told the NY Times

“As far as we’re concerned, they’re in their own bubble,” Mr. Ogrodnick said.

The Times also spoke to someone who lives across  the street from the Four Seasons.

From the Times: Mr. Griffin, a 51-year-old Daytona Beach native who grew up in Boca Raton, donated nearly $6 million to Mr. DeSantis’s campaign in 2018.

“It is disheartening to know that this is underway while observing at the corner a public bus idling at its stop, empty of passengers less fortunate than traders,” said Mr David  Kamp, the founding partner of a landscape architecture firm.

The Times pointed out that the town on Tuesday posted on its website that it had received “several messages of concern” regarding Citadel Securities’ presence at the Four Seasons.

The Times in their article repeatedly stressed that Kenneth Griffin  is a big supporter of the governor, in an effort to indirectly politicize this arrangement