How can I confirm ownership of shares in a stock?

External question — Personal Finance Stack Exchange Author: ANDREW THEODOSSIOU Original post: https://money.stackexchange.com/questions/148842 License: CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ Adaptation: HTML converted to plain text; contact email addresses removed. I purchased Rivian pre IPO shares with my stock holding of Starlink pre IPO. The company has since floated in the US. There was a lockout period before I could sell. However my broker (Scott Sorensen from Crown holdings Group Hong Kong) told me he could negotiate a sale at an agreed share price before the lockout. Thats what we did and now he is asking for 86k USD commision paid up front. I would have thought that would be deducted from the payout. How can I confirm I actually own the shares.? and is this normal practice?