The madness surrounding Robinhood and their controversial move to halt trades within its app connected to stocks including GameStop and AMC has dissipated, but a new scandal has arisen. A news report surfaced this week involving 20-year-old Alexander Kearns, a college student who was utilizing Robinhood to, like many others, do some commission-free trading in the palm of his hand. However, Kearns would tragically take his own life after his family claims he looked at the app and believed he had a negative balance of $730,000.
According to a lawsuit filed by Kearns's family against Robinhood, the app reportedly made it seem as if Kearns was responsible for a debt that didn't exist. "Robinhood built out its trading platform to look much like a videogame to attract young users and minimize the appearance of real-world risk," reads the lawsuit, according to CNN. "[Kearns] was in a complete panic. His panic and desperation grew as he was unable to communicate over a number of hours with anyone at Robinhood."
Alexander Kearns reportedly left a suicide note before taking his life, and according to the lawsuit, his final words were, "How was a 20-year-old with no income able to get assigned almost $1 million worth of leverage[?]" The court documents added, "Tragically, Robinhood's communications were completely misleading because, in reality, Alex did not owe any money."
Kearns's parents are suing Robinhood for unfair business practices, negligent infliction of emotional stress, and wrongful death. "We were devastated by Alex Kearns' death," Robinhood said in a statement. "We remain committed to making Robinhood a place to learn and invest responsibly."
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