Imagine kicking off your day by finding an extra $89 million in your bank account. That’s exactly what happened to a New Yorker one fine morning.
Mornings are usually about groggy eyes and the sound of your alarm clock, but for Daniel Levene, a Manhattan venture capitalist, it was about discovering a fortune in his bank account in April 2023.
Levene, who once traded bonds at Goldman Sachs, logged into his account only to find a staggering $89,900,912 had been deposited by E-Trade Financial Corporation, part of Morgan Stanley that operates an electronic trading platform.
The unexpected windfall led him to wonder, “Did I just win the lottery?”
Without wasting a moment, Levene called up a friend to share the unbelievable news and even joked, “Let’s go to Monaco, buy a yacht, and watch the Grand Prix.”
However, the dream was short-lived.
Realizing the error, Levene told The New York Post, “Obviously, I knew it was a mistake.”
He promptly contacted E-Trade, attaching a snapshot of his bank balance, and wrote in an email, “This is interesting – Please call me IMMEDIATELY – Did I just win the Lottery???”
Given the massive amount, you’d expect a quick resolution from E-Trade, but it surprisingly took them more than an hour to respond and rectify the error.
While the company apologized for the mix-up, they didn’t clarify immediately how the error occurred.
An E-Trade representative stated that they did not process any transactions close to that amount and assured, “In such a case, no funds would have left the firm,” and added that they would always work closely with customers to resolve such issues.
Perhaps Levene would have been better off keeping the news of his brief digital fortune to himself!