Robinhood sued after the Naperville man died by suicide because he believed he had lost more than $ 700,000 due to app stock trading

NAPERVILLE, Illinois (WLS) – The family of a Naperville man is suing Robinhood after he died of suicide after believing he lost more than $ 700,000 on the stock trading app.

Lawyers for the family say 20-year-old Alex Kearns linked the app to his death in his suicide note.

‘He actually saved the screenshot and attached it to his suicide note; it showed a negative cash balance of $ 730,000, ‘said Ethan Brown, one of the family’s attorneys.

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The Kearns family is now suing the app and demanding to know how the student is able to get the leverage of almost $ 1 million.

“In this case, you have a 20-year-old man who has no job; he lives at home and has a total of about $ 16,000 to trade options, which is very complicated,” Brown said.

According to the lawsuit, Kearns received an email that made him believe he had suffered a major loss. According to the lawsuit, Kearns’ account was restricted, and his family said the 20-year-old panicked.

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The lawsuit alleges that Robinhood’s communication was misleading.

“The statement suggested that he owe $ 730,000, and also that he should make a margin call within days, with $ 178,000 in cash,” Brown said.

According to court documents, Kearns tried to contact Robinhood’s customer service and got an automated response.

“One of the great tragedies of this is that we do not think he owes anything at all,” Brown said.

Robinhood responded in a statement, saying in part: “We are devastated by the death of Alex Kearns. Since June, we have improved our offering range. In early December, we also added live voice support for clients with an open option position or recent expiration,” and plans to expand to other use cases.We also changed our protocol to increase customers who email us for help with exercise and early allocation.We remain committed to making Robinhood a place to be responsible learn and invest. “

The Kearns family said Robinhood has lured inexperienced investors like Alex to take big risks. Now they are striving for more change to protect others.

“They do not want any other family to have a tragic situation like they had,” Brown said.