BNSK’s lawsuit against Robinhood for the wrongful death of Alex Kearns
ABC-7 Chicago reports on BNSK’s lawsuit against Robinhood for the wrongful death of Alex Kearns. Here’s an excerpt:
The family of a Naperville man is suing Robinhood after he died by suicide after believing he lost more than $700,000 on the stock trading app.
Attorneys for the family say 20-year-old Alex Kearns connected the app to his death in his suicide note.
“He actually saved the screenshot, attached it to his suicide note; it showed a negative cash balance of $730,000,” said Ethan Brown, one of the family’s attorneys.
The Kearns family is now suing the app, demanding to know how the college student was able to get assigned almost $1 million worth of leverage.
“In this case, you have a 20-year-old man who has no job, he is living at home and has a grand total of about $16,000 to trade options, which are very complicated,” Brown said.
According to the lawsuit, Kearns received an email that led him to believe he suffered a massive loss. The lawsuit claims Kearns’ account was restricted, and his family said the 20-year-old panicked.
The lawsuit alleges communications from Robinhood were misleading.
“The communication suggested that he owed $730,000, and also that he was going to have to make a margin call within a matter of days, having to come up with $178,000 cash,” said Brown.
According to court documents, Kearns tried to contact Robinhood customer service and received an automated reply.
“One of the great tragedies of this is that we do not think he owed anything at all,” Brown said.