Mandatory ‘reorg fee’ - penny stock reverse split

So it’s not life altering, but I had a bunch of shares of a penny stock in my play account that did a reverse split. The stock was worth tenths of a penny per share, and is a big loser that I’m just holding until it blows up or goes to zero. They just did a reverse split and I was charged a ‘mandatory reorg fee’ that cost nearly half of the total value of my position. Came right out of my balance. Is this charged by E*Trade? How is it possible to lose even more money, with no warning, through no action of my own, because of the reverse split on a stock that is damn near without value? I might as well have sold it off before the split and taken my loss had I known this was coming. Can’t get much more red.

Again, it’s not a back breaker or anything, I’m just curious WTF happened and how this even works. TIA