Twenty-year-old college student Alexander Kearns died by suicide after seeing a -$730,165 balance in his Robinhood account in June 2020. Now his parents tell CNN Business' Matt Egan why they're suing the popular trading app.
Producer: Moss Cohen
Supervising Producer: Bronte Lord
#CNN
#Business
#Robinhood
Wow that is so sad he killed him self over something that wasn’t true. I feel that he did make his own decision’s… I wish he didn’t feel that hopeless and helpless, like this was the end.. that there was no coming back from owing this false amount of money. Mental illness is a s.o.b !!! Prayers for him and his family ♥️
https://youtu.be/5JXMPDQfJppp
At 20 years old, I didn’t think having $16 grand in my bank was even a possibility.
@Nadia White It’s my pleasure to help you and hopefully your financial journey will be awesome.
Wow! Great comments thread. I appreciate the info shared here, can I get Virginia’s email?
I can just tell by this kids picture that he wasn’t okay.
School teaches us how to be employees while YouTube teaches us how to be financially free
@Frank Benjamin thank you.
The newspaper made me do it, by way of omission. Interesting case
People are seriously not understanding that we are all different and react to thing’s differently. Imagine someone with some sort of learning disability going through this. It’s a very sad story.
@Joe Barnes lol, not even going that far. People like different things. Movies than some consider bad. Movies that some consider political not correct (meaning too far right, far left, or exploring something they don’t like), reality tv shows that one feel too shallow, or tv shows about vain celebrities, to pointless drama youtube. The fact that there are people who accuse each others for praising a movie as being bought, and can’t even fathom that it maybe their genuine genuine feeling. And that is about entertainment. Much less other aspects of life.
But if he couldn’t read how bet, margin and call trades work he had no business being there. Smart enough for college but too slow to wait 12 hrs? I refuse to believe this was his first bet
@tony tricollie People are way more irrational than you think. And who know what going on. The lock down and everything. You are especially isolated and alone with your own demons. It could very well be the straw that broke the camel’s back.
@tony tricollie “had no business being there.” There are plenty of people doing and being where and things that they have no business doing. Look at Trump’s impeachment defense lawyer (I pick this example because universally people thought the guy is bad). And this go all the way to the top, through out history. And even among the public, way more common than you think. There are plenty of parents who had no businesses of being a parent. In fact, I don’t know you but you may not be as rational as you think you are. I have see people type, “I am a responsible gun owner.” Only to do something stupid with their gun the week after. People are responsible and or rational until they are not. A retired police officer got into a dispute with a pair of parent who text their babysitter about their child. He shot the husband through the wife’s hand. This is a man who knew the law. But people are not themselves when they are on substances. And or when they are angry, or sad, or depress, or whatever. Your brain chemistry and function altered. People said things that they don’t meant to, do things that they don’t meant to.
I don’t blame the parents for trying to search for answers around their son’s death. Thankfully, I’ve never been in their shoes. But Robin Hood’s primary draw is that it’s free and that’s by virtue of the fact that they sell your trade info and they cut overhead, which includes the guardrails that they’re referring to. The no support problem is built into their business model, so you need to know what you’re getting into.
I do
you realize that the issue is that what they showed him, isnt how much money he actually had, right?
You can trade stock if you don’t know what you are doing. Options is a whole different balgame, leveraging can take you far beyond your means.
A 20 yr old? He made the wrong decision.
Hardly the apps to blame! He wasn’t forced to use it! Give me a break…
Jesus, he killed himself for nothing.
Not for nothing. He thought he had 700k in debt. Robinhood is a very shady company.
@Alfred yes for nothing. He wasn’t 700k in debt and now he doesn’t get to experience life anymore
Trump fell from a helicopter https://youtu.be/dHlGXI4cod8 omg.!
Parents are typical, and seriously rationalizing what happened.
Trump fell from a helicopter https://youtu.be/dHlGXI4cod8 omg.!
i kinda disagree tbh. he obviously didnt know what he was doing, and if he did, he’d probably still be alive
The kid could have made so many other decisions instead of choosing to suicide. Why not talk to ANYONE about it?
The hardest lesson involving suicide is there are never enough answers. I’ve dealt with it many times and I feel for the parents but they can’t blame an app or the developer.
Hope you are felling ok and you’re right they just can’t blame it on those people
@Grace I appreciate that and yes, I’m good. I hope you are as well.
sure, but losing 730k? that’ll do it
There is always some one to blame….the other person….the teacher….the app…..sorry but I think the first question to ask is was he mentally unstable to begin with??
• This happened in June 2020
• He sent three emails to RobinHood and got automated replies
• He didn’t go to his parents
• He killed himself less than a day after he saw the negative balance
Draw your own conclusions.
His fault
He was a depressed gambler. CNN dug up this story for clicks like any scum on the internet making clickbait.
A trip to the strip club would’ve cheered him up
Yea I blame Robinhood. Often times it feels unbearable to see you lost a few thousand dollars overnight, been there several times. I can only imagine how he felt when he saw a -$730k.
This Robinhood is for the rich.
Imagine 100’s doing doing this same exact thing over far less money… 1929.
Now imagine history is soon to repeat itself.
“It was definitely an apps fault our son killed himself. Not us, his parents, who raised an irresponsible gambling addict”
Thank u, thats so right
That’s not what they’re arguing. His account showed a -700k balance that wasn’t real. The app glitched. However Robinhood never got in contact with him when he tried to get answers. Had they talked to him about it, it’s doubtful he would’ve taken his life.
@bmoreorless you get a human replay after about 3 days… if you cant wait 3 days to take your life then maybe hes better off dead, very unstable, probably woulda shot up a school
These days everything is someone else’s fault. Somehow I’ve been using Robinhood for years without killing myself. As have millions of other users.