GameStop Investors Sue Silicon Valley-Based Online Brokerage

MENLO PARK, CA — An investor has filed a class-action lawsuit against a Peninsula-based online trading broker alleging Robinhood’s removal of GameStop from its platform deprived him of the ability to profit from the company’s explosive stock surge.

Brendon Nelson of Massachusetts is identified as the plaintiff in the lawsuit demanding the Menlo Park-based brokerage restore GameStop's stock to its platform. The plaintiff is also seeking unspecified compensation.

GameStop’s stock has surged in recent weeks amid a social media-inspired buying frenzy aimed at sticking it to billionaire hedge funds that have cannibalized struggling businesses through short-selling.

The lawsuit alleges that Robinhood’s removal of GameStop flies in the face of the company's stated mission of democratizing investing.

According to the filing: “On or about March 23, 2016, Robinhood’s official Twitter account stated: ‘Let the people trade.’ They have since disregarded their mantra and have blocked access for millions of its customers to trade particular securities.”

An attorney representing Nelson said in a statement to CNBC said that hundreds of others are asking to join in on the lawsuit.

“Robinhood’s mission is to ‘democratize finance for all.’ They have failed,” Alexander Cabeceiras said according to the cable business channel.

“They have purposefully failed this mission and failed their clients in an attempt to — what appears to be — appease their investors and/or potential investors.”

The r/WallStreetBets subreddit has driven the share price of beleaguered brick-and-mortar store from $17.69 as recently as Jan. 8 to an all-time high of $483.00 during Thursday’s trading session.

GameStop’s stock price fell precipitously later in the day however, shedding more than 44 percent of its value by the time the closing bell rang.

It is no matter to the rogue investors who have been basking in schadenfreude as the GameStop stock explosion has already cost hedge funds more than $5 billion, The Associated Press reports.

The subreddit group has also driven up the stock price up of other downtrodden companies including AMC Entertainment and Bed Bath & Beyond.