The Flash Boys, operators of prospective US stock exchange IEX, have morphed into the SEC’s choirboys and are pulling the wool over investors’ eyes, critics claim.

These detractors are furious that IEX — a dark pool that wants to save investors everywhere a buck — can now attend as observers the market structure meetings hosted by the federal regulator for US stock exchanges such as the New York Stock Exchange.

And the high-speed dogfight turned nastier recently, with IEX fending off charges from giant hedge fund Citadel that it is awash in lousy stock executions.

Citadel claims that retail investors would have lost their shirts — $290 million in “lost execution quality” — if IEX had executed the same market orders executed by wholesale market makers in the fourth quarter.

IEX shrugged it off. “[Citadel’s] distorted use of this cherry-picked data highlights the need to improve transparency and disclosure to the investing public in our market, specifically with regard to reporting [that was] the basis for their study,” IEX responded.