A British Columbia man is suing his bank and accounting firm over alleged bad financial advice after losing his entire investment portfolio, which topped $415 million at its peak.
That investor is Christopher DeVocht l, who was a part-time investor with around $88,000 of Tesla stock when he started his RBC portfolio at the end of 2019, according to a report from CBC.
As the value of the Tesla stock grew, DeVocht invested the gains in put and call options on Tesla.
By June 2020, the then 30-year-old’s portfolio had ballooned to $26 million and was still growing.
As a young man, he wanted to branch into real estate and reached out to RBC to obtain a loan against the equity of his RBC trading account to purchase a home. Stemming from that conversation, DeVocht signed an agreement with RBC for financial planning advice and was referred to a tax advisor at Grant Thornton.
By November 2021, DeVocht’s portfolio had ballooned to a staggering $415 million. At this time, he was directed to obtain charitable tax credits to lower his direct income of $25.5 million. However, as Tesla’s stock started to fall, he was forced to sell shares to repay loans from his margin account. The resulting sales ended with him emptying his entire stock portfolio for zero gain.
Per the suit:
But for the defendants’ inadequate advice … the plaintiffs would have preserved a substantial portion of their wealth and implemented financial planning that would not have resulted in the loss of their entire net worth.
These allegations have not been tested in court. Neither RBC, Grant Thornton nor Mr. DeVocht’s lawyers have commented on the active litigation.
