Posted on 06/19/2012 3:24:37 PM PDT by Michael.SF.
Ronald Page seemingly had it made when Bank of America unintentionally changed his account status, allowing the 55-year-old man to make unlimited ATM cash overdraft withdrawals.
But ABC News reports that Page, who in reality had only $300 in his checking account, used the accidental loophole to withdraw more than $1.5 million—losing it all on gambling.
And even worse for Page, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Detroit says he is now facing 15 months in prison after pleading guilty to charges of theft of bank funds, $1,543,104 in total between December 1, 2008 and May 31, 2009.
"In this case, the bank's glitch allowed the defendant to lose a significant amount of money that was not even his in the first place," reads the U.S. Attorney's sentencing memorandum, obtained by ABC. "The fact that defendant acted on an impulse does not minimize the seriousness of his conduct and the need for a custodial sentence."
The day the Bank of America glitch went into effect, Page reportedly withdrew $312,000 from ATMs at the Greektown Casino in Detroit and an additional $51,727 from the MGM Grand Casino. Bank of America placed a hold on his account 17 days later, but he had already withdrawn $1.5 million by that point.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
This would make a great movie starring Martin Lawrence or Eddie Murphy.
As opposed to an "intentional loophole"
Easy come, easy go....
It seems to me you should be able to recover the cash from the casino if you can prove the guy was gambling with stolen cash.
15 months for $1.5M? I *bet* it was worth every minute.
Wouldn’t “accidental loophole” seem to indicate it was a glitch that anyone with his account type would be able to exploit?
So, now he gets another gift of 15 months of free rent and grub?
Whatta deal!
Why can’t they make him work it off? (at minimum wage of course)
I also vaguely remember an episode like that. I’m going to have to look it up now.
Here in NC I don't believe they can. That's not to say the system isn't ripe with fraud. I see people using these cards all of the time. They usually buy their cigs seperately with cash making everyone else in line have to wait even longer.
Its pretty hard to believe the casinos didn’t suspect something. Sounds like he was a small time regular who suddenly went high roller after visiting the ATM.
I’m thinking that’s a pretty convenient answer for “where’s all that money?”. Maybe giving a thief too much credit, but still, why wouldn’t he withdraw the money at the casino and bury it in the back yard? Withdrawing it at the casino is prima facie evidence that it was gambled away (even though it wasn’t, at least in my hypothetical situation). 15 months for $1 million, less good behavior.
I don’t think so. With most things, a thief cannot pass good title to a third party, even if the third party is acting in good faith. Money appears to be one of a few exception. The gambling establishment, as long as it acts in good faith, probably has good title to the money. And the bank, if it can’t get restitution from a judgment-proof thief, will probably be looking to get whole via insurance.
We saw Chris Rock once and he went off on some gentleman who won a lottery and was bankrupt at the end of the year. He called this phenomenon, “Ni**er rich”, and explained that nothing moved faster than money in the hands of a black man.
Makes me think of many examples of such people who made it big, legitimately, only to squander their wealth on frivolities.
Michael Jackson, Bobby Brown, MC Hammer, etc.
I’m betting (pardon the expression) the bank’s insurance investigators will open a suit on the thief to get full discovery. They will leave no stone unturned. They are usually very good at this. If the guy hid the money, they are very likely to find it.
My thoughts too. The most Navy Federal allows me to pull out of an ATM is 600 a day and not a cent more.
The government does this all the time!
It’s buried in a box somewhere so a few years from now when the lawyers and officials give up trying to get their “blood out of a rock”, he gets away with the cash. I think it’s a brilliant plan that requires incredible patience.
15 months? That’s 1 month for every 100k he stole?
I really don’t see any deterrent to NOT do this, if this is the consequence. Except, I would just say I spent it all on drugs so there was no paper trail. Get out of jail in 15 months, and I’m on easy street.
Well, they said it took 17 days for the bank to catch the error, so I would suppose he was running all around town, cleaning out every ATM he could find each day. I’m sure you could get at least 5 or 10 grand per machine, so it probably wouldn’t take that long to get 100k per day.
Yeah, good luck getting “restitution” out of him when he’s in the Bahamas.
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