Alex Kearns died thinking he owed hundreds of thousands for stock market losses onRobinhood. His parents have sued over his suicide.
(exerpts from article)
Twenty-year-old Alex Kearns took his own life last June mistakenly believing he'd lost nearly $750,000 in a risky bet on Robinhood, the stock-trading app where he started trading as a teenager.
The Kearns believe Alex's inexperience is what got him into trouble after a transaction last year. On June 11, he saw Robinhood restricted his account reflecting what appeared to be a negative balance of $730,000.
Later that night, at 3:26 a.m., the company sent an automated email demanding Alex take "immediate action," requesting a payment of more than $170,000 in just a few days.
In fact, according to the family's attorneys, Alex may not have lost money at all, because of the way the options bets were structured.
"He thought he blew up his life. He thought he screwed up beyond repair," Dan Kearns said.
Robinhood had no customer service phone number, but Alex emailed its support address three times late that night and the following morning. He asked for help understanding what had happened, and whether he could still offset the losses with another trade.
The day after Alex took his own life, Robinhood sent an automated email suggesting the trade had been resolved and he didn't owe any money.
"Great news!" The email read, "We're reaching out to confirm that you've met your margin call and we've lifted your trade restrictions. If you have any questions about your margin call, please feel free to reach out. We're happy to help!"
In a note to his parents before he died, Alex had similar questions. He wrote, "How was a 20-year-old with no income able to get assigned almost $1 million worth of leverage?" He added, "The puts I bought/sold should have cancelled out, too, but I also have no clue what I was doing now in hindsight. There was no intention to be assigned this much and take this much risk, and I only thought that I was risking the money that I actually owned. If you check the app, the margin investing option isn't even 'turned on' for me. A painful lesson. F*** Robinhood."
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/alex-kearns-robinhood-trader-suicide-wrongful-death-suit/