Featured Image Credit: CBS / Getty Stock Images
Topics: Money, New York, Technology
Jen Thomas
Imagine checking your bank account to find an unexpected $89 million in there?
That's what happened to Daniel Levene when he found a little bit more money than he expected.
Most of us wake up to a notification or two, maybe a spam email and a missed call from mom, but this New Yorker had a very big surprise.
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Levene is a Manhattan venture capitalist who thought he had struck it lucky when he checked his account one morning in April 2023.
He logged onto his computer for business as usual, and checked his bank balance.
A former Goldman Sachs bond trader, he found many more zeroes in his account than he expected.
The major windfall had been deposited by E-Trade Financial Corporation. A subsidiary of Morgan Stanley, the corporation offers an electronic trading platform to trade financial assets.
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So just how much was in his bank? Well, Levene had $89,900,912 flashing before his eyes.
The stunned man asked the question any of us would be asking: "Did I just win the lottery?"
Next, he decided to call a friend to share the 'good news', and joked: "Let’s go to Monaco, buy a yacht, and watch the Grand Prix."
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What would your first thought be if you thought you were rich? Unfortunately, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
Recalling the fateful day to The New York Post, Levene confessed: "Obviously, I knew it was a mistake."
His next step was to contact an E-Trade customer service rep to try and get to the bottom of it.
He sent an email to the - no doubt equally shocked - agent with a photo of his monster bank balance.
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In an understated fashion, Levene wrote: "This is interesting - Please call me IMMEDIATELY - Did I just win the Lottery???"
Now you'd be forgiven for thinking that a company would notice a missing $89 million pretty quickly - but it doesn't seem so.
Instead of replying in minutes, or calling Daniel 'IMMEDIATELY' as he had requested, they actually took more than an hour to get back to him and sort the return.
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The company apologized profusely for dashing Levene's financial hopes and dreams, but they didn't immediately offer up an explanation.
A representative for E-Trade said they 'did not process any wire transfers anywhere in the neighborhood of what is being suggested'.
They insisted that if such an unusual case were to happen, the company would 'always work closely with that customer to resolve the issue'.
"In such a case, no funds would have left the firm," they added.
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Maybe Levene should have just kept quiet about his newfound wealth...