NY Man Sentenced After Keeping Millions in Bank Error

(Jan. 27) -- A Brooklyn, N.Y., man who accidentally became a millionaire when a bank error gave him access to $5 million was sentenced to probation Monday for spending money that was not rightfully his.

Benjamin A. Lovell, 50, was charged with grand larceny in 2008 for taking more than $2 million from an account held by Woodlawn Trustees, a real estate business in Delaware. The company had recently added the name of an employee, Benjamin S. Lovell, to its account.

The Brooklyn Lovell, who reportedly makes $600 a week as a salesman for energy company National Grid, had gone to Commerce Bank to deposit $400 when he was given access to an account with $5.8 million in it. Lovell contends he tried to resolve the issue multiple times. "I met with bank executives 10 times," he said.

"It was a mistake," Lovell's 72-year-old father, yet another Benjamin Lovell, told the New York Daily News in 2008. "The bank gave him that money, and when he went to give it back, they jumped all over him."

When the bank didn't take the money back, Lovell spent it. Prosecutors say he squandered $500,000 for a failed investment firm, $36,000 for dental work, $10,000 for cash gifts to family and friends, $8,000 on jewelry for a mistress, and $5,000 for vitamins and – no joke – enemas.

Lovell admitted to spending only $400,000 of the money.

"I'm not a flashy dude," he told the New York Daily News. "My whole thing is family and community and friends. That's it."

Lovell says the incident has wrecked his life. He says he lost his job, his home, and that he thought about killing himself when faced with the prospect of 25 years in prison for grand larceny.

"It's been a long, long ride," Lovell said. "When this first happened, I thought it was a joke. I was pinching myself."

Commerce Bank still has a pending lawsuit against him.

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