Man stunned after waking up to find he had $89 million in his bank account
Topics: Money, US News, Business, Technology
Emily Brown
Featured Image Credit: Patrick McMullen/Getty/Pexels/John Guccione
Topics: Money, US News, Business, Technology
A New Yorker got the shock of his life when he woke up on a seemingly normal morning to discover $89 million in his bank account.
Sleep in my eyes, a buzzing alarm and maybe the odd Instagram notification - that's what I wake up to in the morning.
I'd much rather have a morning like Daniel Levene; the Manhattan venture capitalist who logged on to his computer in April 2023 and found the fortune just sitting there.
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When he checked his balance, Levene, a former Goldman Sachs bond trader, found that the money had been deposited by E-Trade Financial Corporation, a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley which offers an electronic trading platform to trade financial assets.
He suddenly found himself in possession of precisely $89,900,912, prompting him to ask himself: "Did I just win the lottery?"
Levene barely stopped to question exactly why he suddenly had so much money in his account, and instead rushed to call a friend to alert them of the news.
On the call, he joked: "Let’s go to Monaco, buy a yacht, and watch the Grand Prix."
It wasn't long before reality came to burst his bubble though.
Speaking to The New York Post, Levene explained: "Obviously, I knew it was a mistake."
He got in touch with an E-Trade customer service rep to iron the whole thing out, sending an email with a photo of his new and improved bank balanced attached.
Levene wrote: "This is interesting – Please call me IMMEDIATELY – Did I just win the Lottery???"
Since $89 million isn't exactly small change, you'd probably expect the brokerage to want to clear things up pretty rapidly.
They apparently weren't that concerned about the incident though, as it took more than an hour for the company to respond to Levene and take back the millions.
While E-Trade did apologize for the financial fiasco, it didn't immediately explain why the wad of cash ended up in Levene's account in the first place.
A representative for the brokerage said E-Trade 'did not process any wire transfers anywhere in the neighborhood of what is being suggested'.
The rep went on to add that if such a case did 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, per the outlet.
Maybe Levene should have just kept quiet about his newfound wealth...