A carpenter from Sooke, a municipality located in Greater Victoria on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, is suing the Royal Bank of Canada and an accounting firm after turning an $88,000 CAD investment in Tesla into $415 million—only to lose it all.
Christopher DeVocht claims RBC Dominion Securities, RBC Wealth Management Financial Services, and Grant Thornton LLP gave him poor advice, breached contracts, and were negligent in managing his investments, leading to the loss of his entire fortune. None of his allegations have been proven in court, reports CBC News.
According to the lawsuit filed in B.C. Supreme Court, DeVocht’s portfolio of Tesla stocks and derivatives soared in value between 2019 and 2021. By early 2020, his holdings had grown to $5.5 million CAD. By mid-2020, they had skyrocketed to $26 million CAD, and by April 2021, his net worth had hit $186 million.
As Tesla’s stock continued climbing, DeVocht’s investments peaked at $415 million CAD by November 2021. During this time, DeVocht sought financial advice from RBC to retire early and secure his wealth. He alleges RBC advisers didn’t support his plan to liquidate his Tesla holdings and move to safer investments.
Instead, DeVocht claims RBC encouraged him to borrow against his equity through a margin account, increasing his risk. The lawsuit also states he was advised to donate over $25 million to RBC’s charitable fund for tax credits.
When Tesla shares began to plummet in October 2022, DeVocht’s investment company was forced to sell off stocks to repay loans, eventually wiping out his entire portfolio. So far, the defendants have yet to comment. But this is wild story as Sooke is a relatively small municipality (population 15,000) and to hear about this carpenter growing his Tesla investment to $415 million CAD ($305 million USD) is incredible.
So he put $80k into Tesla and let it ride to $415M without selling any along the way. That is just greed. He could have retired early at $5.5M. He knew enough to hold his investment in a company, so he probably knew what he was doing. Most people have a personal investment account.
It's worse than that, it never happened. If he came in at the lowest point in 2018 (around $12 split adjusted), it has hit as high as almost $400 so say a 33x. $88k x 33 = still a respectable $3M but that is a far cry from $415M.
There is absolutely no way this guy saw those kinds of gains, not with an $88k investment. The only way he would've been able to do it would be by playing and winning (pretty much each time) shorts up and down. Nope, $415M not a chance.
That person must be a sophisticated investor to know how to play shorts up and down, and very lucky gambler. Would love to see the evidence presented in this trial.
I have been really happy with a 10x in that period of time (5 years) and he managed almost 6000x!!! Not a bloody chance.
He was not doing simple buying or shorting of the stock. He was doing options plays. . which enables massive gains or losses beyond just buying shares of TSLA.
My terminology may be lacking (I'm long only) but we mean the same thing. But according to the article..he invested only $88k. AND, as a simple carpenter (no snub I am one also) the kind of luck he would need would be impossible.
A carpenter with the skills and luck that could manage that kind of gain would be a rare animal indeed.