DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

Bank error in his favor ... compounded
Man charged with withdrawing $2 million after $5 million bank boo-boo


NEW YORK - A man was charged with withdrawing $2 million from an account after a bank confused him with a man who has the same name.

Benjamin Lovell was arraigned Tuesday on grand larceny charges. The 48-year-old salesman said he tried to tell officials at Commerce Bank in December that he did not have a $5 million account. He says he was told it was his and he could withdraw the money.

Prosecutors said the bank — which advertises itself as America's Most Convenient Bank — confused Lovell with a Benjamin Lovell who works for a property management company.

Story continues below ↓
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
advertisement

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The lesser-funded Lovell gave away some of the withdrawn money and blew some of it on gifts, but lost much of it on bad investments, prosecutors said.

The district attorney's office did not immediately have information on his lawyer. Calls left with Commerce Bank on Wednesday were not immediately returned.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23258937/?GT1=10856



He tried to let the bank know, they said it was yours.Is it the same as getting the wrong change at a grocery store and trying to tell the clerk? What would you fellow dalg talkers do or think?

Even if the bank says it's yours (and you know it isn't) you don't spend it. That's just dumb.

Would love to hear some of the legal views on this... but if the guy tried to tell them it wasn't his you can't blame him for spending it... the good guy inside me says that I would spend it because I know it's not mine... but I could pay a lot of bills with $5 million

Okay, here's what I think I would do:

I would have the bank manager type out a letter stating that they were informed by me that the amount of $5 million was not mine. They told me it was and to use it as such. They will be held resposible for any losses incurred due to others for this money legally not belonging to me.

Me, I would take the issue all the way to the President of the bank and if they still insisted it was mine then i would withdraw the money and deposit it at another bank cause i sure wouldn't want to do business with a bank that would allow the kind of screw up by not investigating the error when the customer insists its not theirs.

I'd take the 5 million out, and throw it into the biggest APR savings account I could find. Even at 4% interest, if it took a bank a month to realize the mistake, I'd make over $16,000 and then gladly pay the $5 million back that I owed them.

Hookers,lots of hookers.

The bank made a mistake but the man knew it wasn't his money. It might be the banks fault the mistake was made in the first place but nobody told the man he had to take it out and spend it. He made that decision on his own.

No matter how I look at it, the guy stole the money and should be held accountable for his actions. Bank mistake or not, he knew the money wasn't his. He should receive the maximum sentence possible for his actions as well, since he knew he was wrong.

This is just another typical case of someone blaming someone else for their own dumb actions.

BINGO!

That's exactly what I would do. I actually do think there is a regulation that covers this.

However

Let's see how people's opinions on this differ compared to the thread on the hospitals improperly billing insurance companies.

Well, if I went to the bank and another Lee had millions that appeared in my account,,well I would let them know like this guy did. And, if they told me that it was mine I would withdraw it like he did, but I would put it into a money market account or at least a savings account and let it draw interest. Then when the mistake finally is understood, I would give his money back and keep that interest I made while it was deposited into my account.

After all, legally it was $5 million I would have to return. He was a dumb ass for spending it.

That's what I said.

I'd go with the savings account over money market, as I think the percentage is better, and I think it's a tad more liquid. Looking online, OneUnitedBank has an e-savings account with a 5.15 interest yield. This guy found out about the deposit back in December, and it wasn't discovered until now. At that interest rate, for two months ... you would make almost $43,000.

Some of them require leaving the money in for a certain amount of time before withdrawl. Just sayin'.

Well obviously. I'd definitely be checking out the withdrawal restrictions before making a $5 mil deposit.

Like the Katrina victims with their windfalls, I'd spend it on spinners, crack, booze and strippers!

"Ohh snap, those are sum dope wheels jfanent! U ballin!"

I'd take it all out and learn how to speak French, Spanish, Swiss, Italian or whatever language the country id be moving to speaks

LOL. That's a thought I had briefly before my damn conscience interrupted me....

it would be tempting but I'd like to think even ol' OnB is smart enough to think about the consequences. I would try to dig into where the deposit originated. Maybe somebody just wanted to give me a gift.

My friend is a teller and mistakes happen but this is a little crazy.

BTW... what was this "bad investment"? Lottery tickets?

Get everything in writing then have the bank sign a hold harmless and arbitration clause....If I couldn't get that I would take the money and spend interest

Quote:

---

Even if the bank says it's yours (and you know it isn't) you don't spend it. That's just dumb.

---

100% Agree....It will come back and get him in trouble someday...and it did,

bottom line you cant break the law and than cry I didnt know...Ignorance is no excuse.

JMHO, but I would probably not spend it. If I was going to, I would get so much documentation from the bank that it would be pretty tough for them to say "oh, we didn't know it wasn't the same guy." But, in the end, I wouldn't touch the money. There's just too much that can go wrong, like getting indicted for grand larceny.

Here's a thought on what could be done. It's kinda mean and might get the bank shut down.

Get all the documentation that you could possibly get that they refused to believe that the money isn't yours. Once you have all the documentation, withdraw and close your account with said money and take said money and documentation to the FBI and tell them that the specific bank needs to be investigated because they deposted 5mil into your account that wasn't yours then gave you all this documentation saying that they won't hold you responsible blah blah blah. Tell the FBI that you think that the bank should be investigated for whatever they can get them on, hand over the paperwork and money so that it's the FBI's problem and not mine.

Lost some on bad investments? This gives the impression that this takes place over a lengthy amount of time, possible several months or even a year or more.

Me, I'm putting the money in a high interest bearing account and waiting for them to say they want it back, then keep the interest. heck I could live off the the interest alone, so if it went on forever, I'd still have a nice lifestyle. Without ever spending a dime of the original 5 mil.

Think about it, 5 mil at just 4% is 200k a year.


And who ever deposits money into an account without giving an account number. I never walk into my bank and just give my name and expect them to find my account.

Take the money,deposite it in the Caymans, go to a warm nonextraditable country and set up shop, withdraw money so the U.S. can't come take it. Wait for the statute (sp) of limitations to run out then come home if I wanted . I could retire on 5 Mil tax free. At least that's what Brad Pitt who would play me in the movie would do .

This isn't even a dilemma for me at all,,

If I was the guy and I tried to inform them that it wasn't my money and they insisted that it was,, I'd just move the bulk to an account where I could gain some interest...

Say maybe 5 percent.. 5% of 5 million is 250K..

That I would consider to be MY MONEY... when they came for the money I'd simply say,, OK,, I have it over here... I'll get it for you,..,,, So basically, I'd keep the interest income and give them back the 5 mill.

If they tried to go after me for anything, then with Lawyer in tow, I'd head directly to a TV station to tell the whole story and make the bank look like the idiots they are...

I'm pretty sure they would want to surpress that kind of publicity so in exchange for getting all the money back, the would drop it.. of course they would want me to sign something indicating I won't go public,,, But I wouldn't sign it..

Then I'd go out and get a book deal, Hire a ghost writer (vers are you available) and have a best seller,,, I'd make millions and I'd be damn sure to put that money into a different bank....

That's one way to do it, the other is to sit in front of a branch manager at the bank in question,, tell him to look up the SS # of the person whose account it really was, then show him my SS# and unless he was a complete idiot, he'd fix the problem right away..

Then I'd hire a ghost writer and get published for telling the whole story and I'd become a Millionaire,, and again, I would NOT put the money in that bank

There's no way I could spend $2 mil that wasn't my money. I felt bad the other day at McDonalds and gave the cashier back the extra $1 in change she gave me lol.

I'd withdraw it and make them give me a toaster for it's return. Then I'd own the worlds first 5 million dollar toaster to depectiate for my tax returns.