While many of us might wake up to a few notifications, perhaps a spam email or a missed call from a family member, this New Yorker encountered a major financial shock.
Levene, a venture capitalist from Manhattan, believed he had hit the jackpot when he reviewed his account one morning in April 2023.
He began his day by logging onto his computer for routine business activities and checked his bank balance.
As a former Goldman Sachs bond trader, he was unprepared to see a significantly increased number of zeroes in his account.
The colossal amount came from E-Trade Financial Corporation, a Morgan Stanley subsidiary known for providing an electronic trading platform for financial assets.
So how much money was sitting in his account? Levene saw the figure of $89,900,912.
Like anyone else would, he immediately wondered: “Did I just win the lottery?”
He then called a friend to share the unexpected news, humorously suggesting: “Let’s go to Monaco, buy a yacht, and watch the Grand Prix.”
What would you think if you suddenly seemed wealthy? Unfortunately, if it appears too good to be true, it likely is.
Reflecting on the experience with The New York Post, Levene admitted: “Obviously, I knew it was a mistake.”
He then reached out to E-Trade customer service to clarify the situation.
Levene emailed a possibly equally surprised agent with a snapshot of his inflated bank balance.
In his email, he wrote: “This is interesting – Please call me IMMEDIATELY – Did I just win the Lottery???”
It might be expected that a company would quickly notice a missing $89 million. However, that wasn’t the case here.
Instead of an immediate response, or a call to Daniel ‘IMMEDIATELY’ as he had requested, it took more than an hour for them to address the situation.
The company was quick to apologize for the disappointment, though no explanation was provided right away.
An E-Trade representative stated they ‘did not process any wire transfers anywhere in the neighborhood of what is being suggested’.
They assured that if such an event were to occur, 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.
Perhaps Levene should have quietly enjoyed the momentary illusion of wealth…