should you go to jail for using a Bank error in your favor?

[karyn]

from yahoo

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York man who discovered that millions of dollars had mysteriously appeared in his bank account, and withdrew more than $2 million, has been arrested on charges of grand larceny, prosecutors said on Wednesday.

Benjamin Lovell, 48, pleaded innocent on Tuesday to charges that he withdrew money from a Commerce Bank account that had been opened by someone with the same name, prosecutors said.

The account belonged to Woodlawn Trustees Inc, a Delaware property management company, and was listed under the name of its finance director, who is also named Benjamin Lovell, court papers said.

Lovell had just $800 in his own Commerce Bank account when he went to make a deposit, but a teller, mistaking the Woodlawn account for Lovell's personal account, told him that his account contained more than $5 million, prosecutors said.

Lovell made multiple withdrawals even though he knew that the money was not his, prosecutors said. He used the money to buy jewelry for his girlfriend and to make several investments, they said.

Commerce Bank and Woodlawn Trustees did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Legal Aid attorney representing Lovell could not be reached for comment either.

Lovell is being held on $3 million bail. He faces up to 25 years behind bars if convicted, prosecutors said.

(Reporting by Edith Honan, Editing by Sandra Maler)

[VoltaireBlue]

as much as i'd like to say no, i have to say yeah he should go to jail.

[Morning Glory]

I hope not. how do you think I am paying for things? Shh.

I don't see how this can hold up in court. the guy didn't commit grand larceny, he didn't rob the bank. The Bank commited the grand larceny by giving away someone elses money without permission. All this guy really did was receive stolen property, which I think is a misdemeanor, and possibly if you really want to stretch it maybe you can say that he commited money laundering. but it's not illegal to spend money, even if it's not yours.

[evilstonermonkey]

hypothetical: steve accidentaly leaves his wallet at my house after a party. steveisnt able to come get it, but lets me know hell send a mate over for it. you arrive, i assume youre here for the wallet,get it for you and you leave. i mistakenly let you go with steves wallet, and you in full knowledge take steves wallet and go on a spending spree. who stole the wallet?
you stole the goddamn wallet bitch, and your ass is going to jail.

point of interest: it is larceny, certainly. larceny is court jargon for theft, and grand larceny is, in the US (though varying by state), theft of $200 (be that in money or the value of the stolen property). i believe the amount for New York specifically is $250.

[Bacchus88]

Evil I could not have made it any simpler myself. It better much cut and clean.

the fact he wasnt that smart about getting the money. To many time at the withdrawal, made the bank take a better look at him. He should have done money wire to Bahamas, Switzerland, Hong Kong even greece.. I believe those place the US government can not access info about accounts.

[Amelia G]

If he wired money to another country, that would seem somehow more criminal to me. Due to anti-terrorism efforts on the part of the USA, I kinda think most places now give up financial records in many situations anyway.

I think someone who goes to someone else's house and tricks them out of a third party's wallet is intending to be a thief. Someone who just finds the money in their account has more of a dilemma. Although admittedly, if that happened to me when I was in a branch, I think I'd just laugh and be like I wish, y'all have the wrong account pulled up. It probably wouldn't really occur to me to attempt to be tricky. If it showed up on an ATM though, I think a lot of people would be more tempted.

I kinda agree that the crime seems more like receiving stolen good than larceny exactly. He did not do anything to trick the bank. The bank screwed up and his crime is not informing them that they screwed up. That is really different from setting out to trick them into screwing up.

[Morning Glory]

right, if you left your wallet at my house and I spent the money, I'd be an asshole, no doubt. but you can't say that I stole your wallet, since I didn't take it from you. you granted me access to your wallet and your money and I abused it. Ok, let's take it this way, suppose that you found a wallet in the street and you took the money instead of being a good samaritan and returning it to it's rightful owner. Still wrong, but not quite as bad. It's the same exact thing in process, but the difference is the matter of malicious intent.

Obviously this guy knew what he did was wrong, but I think his intention probably wasn't to screw anyone over, he probably just thought hey it's my lucky day.

[evilstonermonkey]

its exactly the same thing - someone unknowingly gave him access to someone elses money, and he in full knowledge spent it. one person makes a mistae, another uses that mistake to take a lot of money. had it been an extra $20, or even an extra couple of hundred then the 'he just thought it was his lucky day' argument would stand up. bank errors happen. but if you look in your account and find it is 5 million dollars plumper than you expected, theres going to e some repercussions.

[Morning Glory]

potato, potato.

it's the banks responsibilty to keep track of your money, that's why they are a bank. they are just trying to pass the buck (no pun intended) onto this guy, even though he's not innocent, they are the one's that fucked up by giving away someone elses money.

just my $.02

[inox]

MG, you might want to take a closer look at what the legal system says, because your interpretations of law are WAY off.

Bottom line, he knew or should have known that the money was not his.

What's the justification for it being ok? That he wasn't responsible for deceiving them initially? No. Doesn't work that way.

[Morning Glory]

what the legal system says? it doesn't say anything, or more precisely it says whatever you can pay someone to convince twelve other people of.

[inox]

what the legal system says? it doesn't say anything, or more precisely it says whatever you can pay someone to convince twelve other people of.

Some things are pretty clearly defined, and in those cases where people do skate on things, it's generally due to technicalities or not meeting the relevant standard of evidence.

The laws on theft/larceny are generally pretty crystal clear.

You might not want to think of it as stealing someone's wallet, but when you take money out of someone's wallet and claim it as yours, you are guilty of theft.

[TheCosmicSheriff]

I think if he got caught he should be busted. Id do the same thing and fight it to the death.
On a side note my Uncle recieved a Mill and a half from the IRS on mistake, spent it and was sentanced to a couple years and had to repay what he had spent.