Bank Accidentally Gives Man $5 Million
AP
Posted: 2008-02-21 11:54:00
Filed Under: Nation News, Weird News

NEW YORK (Feb. 21) - 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.

The lesser-funded Lovell gave away some of the withdrawn money and blew some of it on gifts, but lost much of it on bad investments, prosecutors said.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


WOW, talk about a boo boo

That's absolutley ridiculous. They guy made an honest effort telling the bank it wasn't his account. It's the banks carelessness they should have to pay it back.

Now he's one sad tomato...

This has to be Bush's fault at some point...I bet his ancestors owned the piece of land where the bank sits or something...

HA!

the guys a bit of a dolt if he thinks just cause the bank confused him with someone else that that give the him the right to withdraw an amount that he knew was not his....

there was one year, my mom deposted $100 into her bank account and the teller gave her a reciept for $1,000 it was funny and we didnt tell her that she made a mistake, i think they found the errior later on though

Really? I'd have thought it was related to the Clinton's somehow... assuming that we have to relate bad things to a political family.

banks can be d!cks, a florida bank wouldn't honor my passbook, when they changed to electric, and they kept six thousand of my college moneys, escourted me to the door with security, and laughed, when i hit the cement, as i flew through the glass door, in winterpark, on park ave. the bank is bought out, heard they almost went under, they also repoed my car, and i was ahead in payments buy two, all in the same day. they did this while i was argueing with them about the account.while the man was looking over my account, he mentioned the car, smiled and left the room. came back 15 minutes later, and told me, and said i don't have the money or the car now, so i was phucked, and laughed. a year later, his convertible was filled with cement, to the top, manure was dumped in his front lawn, to block the door...........he he!

Years ago my dead husband walked away with a twenty dollar bill in a bank. What happened was that he cashed a check and left the teller window without counting the money. Then he realized he had an extra twenty dollar bill. He got back in line and advised the teller she had made a twenty dollar mistake, but she cut him off before he could say it was in his favor. She got really nasty with him and said he left the window, and how does she know what he did or didn't do with the money. Therefore, the mistake has to stand. My husband tried once more to tell her the mistake was in his favor and he just wanted to return the extra twenty. She repeated her ugly rhetoric that she coudln't do anything .... he walked away from the window .... it was his problem.

Finally, my husband managed to get a word in and told her the mistake was in his favor. The bank teller changed her tune, demanding that he hand over the twenty. My husband pointed out that she said once he walked away from the window, the mistake had to stand. Then he turned to the people in the bank. It was a Friday evening, so the bank was fairly crowded. He said, let's let the crowd decide and then he asked that everyone in favor of him keeping the twenty to shut yes. There was a resounding yes. With that my husband turned to the teller and said, thanks for the twenty and left the bank. That was the end of that business.

The big difference I can see is that your husband was given the extra 20 by the bank and he didn't ask for it. The bank did make an error with other individual but this This other person went one step further by asking the bank for money he knew didn't belong to him..

years ago when purchasing a house I was taking out a loan to do renovations and the bank called to tell me that I didn't require a loan in the amount I requested because I had gov savings bonds that had matured to their highest level. I told the bank I never purchased bonds but they insisted. I went to the bank and looked at the documents. The individual had the same last name but spelled their first name with differently than mine. I pointed that out but the bank still insisted so I cashed the bonds in for $2,900 and left that amount in my account for over a year in case the individual make a claim for the bonds. No one ever did though.

Wow! $2900. I am absolutely amazed over the mistakes banks can make. I was never aware of it. The twenty dollar bill wasn't really a banking error .... it was a teller error. It makes one a little leary. Well, I suppose FDIC covers mistakes such as the above?

I very much disagree. The person in question tried to tell the bank there was a mistake. He should not be charged with a crime, and he should not be made to pay it back. The only mistake I can see he made was NOT getting it in writing that the money was his. The bank should absorb the cost of the mistake to pay back the shorted account. It was the bank’s mistake after all.

The guy stole the money. We are talking about two million dollars. I posted above how my husband walked out with a twenty dollar bill when the teller became nasty and argumative when she thought he was the one who had been shorted the money. So, I felt it was okay for my guy to walk off with twenty dollars. Twenty dollars is nothing; it won't even fill your gas tank. But come on now, we are talking two million dollars. You just don't walk away with that amount of money knowing it is not yours. This guy is an out and out thief and deserves to be thrown in jail.

you do realize that the shareholders of banks would suffer the consequences of the banks errors...I don't think you would appreciate your bank telling you they made and error so your shares are being devalued and your dividends check is going be substantially lower...I think then you might not have the same opinion...

If this guy had any sense he'd ask for a trial by jury!

and if he does I hope he gets nailed with the cost of the trial...

i have had a bank give me to much money

when i cashed a check

i told them they messed up

and they told me they don't make mistakes

but two weeks later they

took the overpayment out of my account

imagine that

as far as this guy goes

he should of either not spent any of it

or took it all and gone to a country without extraaditon

but fanta is right

he should get a jury trial

i know if he proved the bank gave him

the money after telling them they were wrong

he would be richer if i was on the jury

i would not give him the money

but would ask the judge to award him damages

for the hassles the bank has cost him by their arrogance

So you're saying the bank has no responsibility for the incompetence of their employees or their banking practices.
If they had done this to me and I had tried to tell them it wasnt mine, yet they insisted it was. You would have heard me mutter dumbasses as I walked out the door.