San Francisco, Feb 9 (IANS): The family of 20-year-old Alex Kearns who died by suicide has now sued the stock trading app Robinhood for his wrongful death, the media reported.
Last year, Kearns died by suicide in June, as he believed he'd lost $730,000, and that Robinhood was coming for more than $170,000 of that money soon.
Kearns reportedly tried to contact Robinhood's support department four times, but only got an automated message that he owned the money, reports The Verge.
The day after he died, Robinhood sent another automated message to let him know he didn't actually owe money at all, according to a CBS News report.
According to the complaint, Kearns never owed any money at all to Robinhood but the company suggested that he did, sending him an "immediate action required" email telling him he needed to deposit $178,612.73 by June 17th.
When the news of Kearns death was out, Robinhood "promised to change how its app worked, educate its users, and pledged $250,000 to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention".
Robinhood is currently facing several lawsuits for its role in the GameStop/ Reddit/Wall Street Bets episode.
After online trading app Robinhood, co-founded by Indian American Baiju Bhatt, created a mayhem among the traders, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is closely monitoring and evaluating the extreme price volatility of certain stocks' trading prices over the past several days.
Although the FAA did not directly name Robinhood, GameStop and others, it acknowledged that extreme stock price volatility has the potential to expose investors to "rapid and severe losses and undermine market confidence".
Silicon Valley-based online trading app Robinhood had to raise emergency funding of $1 billion from its existing investors after demands on its cash skyrocketed amid "extraordinary circumstances" in the market.
After a volatile ride powered by an army of online cheerleaders on the Reddit platform, GameStop and AMC Entertainment stocks plunged to earth as questions continue to swirl around the stunning upset of financial power on Wall Street.